Country:
City:
Start from the Maison des Chasseurs Gabiannais, Chemin de la Grangette. Parking available nearby.
(S/E) Walk down to the bottom of the street and turn left. Go through the tunnel and, at the exit, take the path on the right. Walk alongside the vineyards on your left, then take the path across the Thongue. Cross this green area and you’ll reach a road.
(1) Cross the road, head straight ahead and begin the ascent towards the hills overlooking the valley. Reach the first summit, Les Fourques.
(2) Enjoy the first unobstructed views of the heath and the surrounding hills. Continue along the path which descends the western slope, then turns eastwards and leads to a track. Follow it to the right, then turn left under the high-voltage power line and reach a road (Chemin de Montcounil).
(3) Follow it to the right, skirting a beautiful olive grove typical of the local Mediterranean landscape. Reach a remarkable viewpoint overlooking the large bridge of the old railway line, then continue to the end of the road.
(4) Cross the avenue and turn onto the path on the left. At house number 4, carry straight on along the Ruisseau de Lène and head down to the second crossing over the stream.
(5) Take this and climb to the right up to the second peak, the White Cross.
(6) Enjoy the sweeping view over the area’s vine-covered hillsides. Continue downhill, reach a road and walk a few metres to the left until you reach the track on the right.
(7) Ignore this track and take the path immediately to the right, following it to the rocky viewpoint offering a beautiful vista of the surrounding landscape.
(8) Continue along the path, descending and then climbing again to the third peak, Saint-Hilaire, after negotiating a technical climb halfway up the slope. This section is one of the most physically demanding parts of the route.
(9) At the summit, enjoy a sweeping view over Gabian, the surrounding hills and the grounds of the Château de Cassan. Continue along the path which follows the crest of the ridge. At the bottom of the descent, turn left onto the track and reach a road. Follow it to the right, then take the path on the left to reach the tunnel that takes you under the departmental road.
(10) Go through the tunnel, then follow the road straight ahead between the vineyards until you reach the edge of the woodland. Turn right onto the path that runs alongside the Château de Cassan and its vineyards, which stretch out at the foot of the hills. You will then enter the Bois de Sainte-Marthe and come to a fork in the path.
(11) Head left to tackle a particularly technical climb requiring careful attention, and you’ll reach a track. Follow it downhill, go round a tight bend to the left and, a few metres further on, you’ll find a path on the right.
(12) Follow this path, ignoring a track on the left, and carry on straight ahead until you reach a track suitable for vehicles. Follow it to the right for about fifty metres until you reach a fork in the path.
(13) Turn left, then continue along a footpath. At the next fork, turn right and make a wide left-hand bend. At the edge of the vineyard, continue alongside it for about twenty metres on your left, then carry on along the track until you reach a road. Cross the road and continue downhill, heading almost straight ahead, to join a pleasant forest track that runs alongside the Thongue, in a cooler, shadier setting.
(14) Turn left, leave the woods and continue along the track which climbs through the vineyards.
(15) Take a track on the left, skirting a copse on your left then vineyards on your right, and arrive at the edge of a woodland.
(16) Leave the track, head right between the vineyards and the woodland, then continue along the path. Begin the ascent of the fifth peak, the Puech Fario.
(17) Continue down the opposite slope via a wilder descent towards La Thongue, through dense Mediterranean vegetation, until you reach a track.
(18) Follow it to the right, passing between the river and the heath – the wildest section of the walk.
(19) At a small building, walk alongside the vineyards on your left.
(15) Do not retrace your steps along the outward route. Turn left towards the river, then turn right and head for the bridge over the Thongue. Cross the bridge and rejoin the road at the wastewater treatment plant.
(20) Turn left, then quickly take the path that climbs to the right. At the edge of the woods, keep left and follow the vineyards on your left. Continue along the path that crosses the Campagne de Quignard through farmland until you reach a track.
(21) Continue to the left, then, after about a hundred metres, take the path on the right and reach a road.
(22) Cross it and head straight on along the path opposite, veering slightly to the right, and begin the ascent of the sixth peak, the Cadablès. Climb straight up the slope via a technical ascent offering fine views of the entire route you have already covered, until you reach the summit.
(23) Continue down the other side and, after a steep descent, you’ll reach a track. Ignore it and carry on along the path to the right, which climbs and then, after a bend to the left, descends. Pass between two vineyards and continue through the woodland. Cross a stream and join the D174, Rue de la Rauzière. Follow it to the right and reach number 24 about ten metres further on.
(24) Take the path that winds sharply to the left and climb up to a track crossing at the seventh and final peak, La Rouzière. (161 m alt)
(25) Turn right, walk past the cemetery and reach the road, at the first houses in Gabian. Continue to the right along the Chemin de l’Égalité to the City Parc and the school on the Promenade des Tilleuls.
(26) Take Rue de la Rauzière, then carry on straight ahead. Find a path on the right and take the steps to cross the Promenade des Tilleuls; turn right onto Route de Pouzolles, passing the cooperative wine cellar, then leave the village and follow the field on your left, crossing the next one via a small dirt track.
(27) Font de l’Oli, a former oil extraction site. Carry on to the left along the Thongue, then continue along the small road until you reach the end of the Ancien Chemin de Margon. Ignore the D146, turn right and head for the Town Hall with its Oil Museum.
(28) Head left, join the D13, follow it to the right and return to the junction by the fountain with the War Memorial.
(29) Walk past the Church of Saint-Julien-et-Sainte-Basilisse, a remarkable 12th-century building, then turn left after the Place des Anciens Combattants onto Rue Flaquerie, and at the fountain, turn right onto Rue du Théron. At the end, take the D146 to the right onto Avenue de la Gare, cross the bridge over the Thongue and reach the junction you passed on the way out.
(4) Turn left onto Chemin de Montcounil, following the route in the opposite direction to the outward journey.
(3) At the high-voltage power line, take the path on the left and, when you reach the road, turn left to rejoin the original fork.
(1) Continue along the road, then at the bottom of the valley, turn left and walk at a leisurely pace to the Maison des Chasseurs Gabiannais (S/E).
Visorando Member
Moderate 
Easy 
