Saint-Auban - Le Mas

(S) From Saint-Auban, follow the same route as the previous day until the^GR®4meets the road at a place called Le Défens (marker 25). Then take the track heading east towards Col de Baratus Gars l’Arpille (Chemin Clovis).
Note: You will soon reach a junction by a field; this is not at all obvious as the path has disappeared.

(1) The track turns left and heads into the trees; do not follow it. Instead, walk along the edge of the field on the right and then cross the small stream, the Ruisseau des Lones. Then head steeply southwards up a sort of small ravine which quickly becomes a path through the undergrowth. Join a path which you must follow to the left.
You will then pass two enormous tree trunks lying across the path in succession before reaching the main track.

(2) Take this on the left and follow it due east. After two hairpin bends, you’ll come to the junction marked with signpost 119.

(3) Continue along the main track towards L'Arpille, leaving the access path to the Col de Baratus on your left. Then follow the Hôpital track until you reach the junction marked with signpost 115.

(4) Continue towards L'Arpille. Pass marker 114 and carry on, leaving the Combe de la Faye on your right to reach the junction of two tracks at marker 110.

(5) Turn left, still heading towards L’Arpille. Reach marker 111, the starting point of the Serre de Bane ridge path, marked in yellow.

(6) Set off straight ahead along this very pretty path, which is shaded at the start but then opens out onto the ridge all the way to the Col de Bane, reached at marker 112.

(7) Start the descent to the right towards Le Mas. The well-marked path winds along the hillside before heading downhill, ending in some lovely woodland before reaching the village of Le Mas (E).

(Between 1 and 2) the use of the Visorando GPS is not superfluous.
(1) If you cannot find the path, it should be possible to follow the track that leads into the undergrowth almost as far as the Col de Baratus and then descend to marker 119 to rejoin the route described above. This slightly longer, perhaps more pleasant alternative allows you to avoid part of the track; here too, in these woods, using a GPS is not a bad idea...

(2) If you wish to avoid 800m of track, take a small path quickly to the right which climbs and then runs parallel to the track, rejoining it a little further on at the second hairpin bend (marker 118).