Choose your starting point depending on parking availability and the season. The route is described from a car park at the end of Rue de l'Oratoire, but this is a very small square with only 4 or 5 spaces. Park here or walk to this point from the car park.
(S/E) Pass under a porch and take Rue du Théâtre for a few metres, then follow a path that climbs to the right towards the castle.
(1) You will arrive just below the castle and join thePR® trail which heads north (well-marked, almost horizontal path). Follow this path which runs along a wide ridge covered with boxwood and oak trees.
(2) At an altitude of 740 metres, you will reach a small road. Ignore the branch that goes off to the right (towards Les Cavagnols) and the branch on the left (which goes towards Les Longuets) and continue straight ahead in a northerly direction, following the wooded ridge (ignore the paths on either side).
(3) At an altitude of around 880 metres, you will come to a group of clearly visible cisterns. Do not continue along the small road, but take a path (the start of which is not very clear) that branches off to the right and heads sharply south for a few metres. Find a good, clearly marked path that branches off to the left towards the north (you will join a path that comes from the right from Les Roumanes). Follow this good path northwards.
(4) At 945 metres, you will come to a fork. Stay on the path that goes uphill and not the one that branches off to the left. Follow this path, guided by its clearly visible route. At an altitude of around 1,000 metres, go around a deforested area on the right and then at the top. The path that follows will quickly take you to a junction where you will join a path coming from the left.
(5) Take this path to the right. You will arrive at the summit ridge and head right (due east) to reach, after a few metres, the summit of Cluyer marked by a cairn (1054m).
(6) Retrace your steps, then veer to the right until you find a very good path.
(7) There are several possible routes. It is best to take the "directissime Nord" (okay, the name is a bit of an exaggeration!). This well-marked, slightly stony path joins a road at an altitude of 971m and the PR®.
(8) Turn right towards the north-east. Keep going in this direction until you reach another path and turn right at a right angle (towards the east). You will come to a fork.
(9) Take the left fork (the other option is also possible). Signs indicate that you are on private land but allow pedestrians to use the path. At an altitude of 977m, join theGR®9and follow it to the right to reach the Travignon track.
(10) Take this track southwards for about 350m.
(11) When theGR® heads south-west, follow another well-marked path that continues south and climbs towards the Travignon small pass (it is also possible to continue following theGR® to Travignon). You will come to a beautiful cistern, then descend a hundred metres or so in a series of hairpin bends.
(12) At Travignon, at an altitude of around 930 metres, find the trace of a good path that branches off to the left towards the north-east. Take this path and walk through a beautiful area that is sometimes a little exposed (but you should always be on a very good path). Cross horizontally towards the north-east, then north, then north-east again. Descend a little at the end and reach the bottom of the Combe de Freissinière.
(13) Head due south on the path that follows the bottom of the valley as closely as possible (it sometimes deviates by only a few metres to avoid escarpments).
(14) At around 680m, do not follow the branch of the path that goes off to the left, but take the track on the right that gradually moves away from the bottom of the valley, overlooking it on its right bank. Follow the path that turns right towards the north-west at the end and reaches the Combe de Travignon, where you join theGR®9.
(15) Do not descend to the left, but take the path to the right for 3 or 4 metres. Look for the path that leaves from the right bank of the Combe de Travignon towards a beautiful cliff with a cave (Rocher de la Cadière). Follow this path, which passes under the cliff almost horizontally towards the south-west, and join the Lays track.
(16) Continue left on this small tarmac road, which you follow to Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt and arrive at the starting point (S/E).