After a day off seeing the sights in Aix-en-Provence, day five took me to the Bimont Dam and the Sainte-Victoire Mountains, including a climb up to almost 600m. Both weather-wise, walk-wise and scenery-wise, todays 28km was a great walk.
I left the hotel fairly late and walked through the center of Aix-en-Provence passing the Rotonde Fountain and Paul Cezanne statue, before walking along the long Boulevard Cours Mirabeau, today transformed into a market selling mostly touristic products, not least bags of lavenders and extending to Place du Verdun, where it was mostly locally produced food that was for sale.
It didn’t take long to reach the outskirts of the city and after a 100m climb along a small road and path, I was soon walking along fairly wide paths, through forests, enjoying the very pleasant weather, perfect for walking. There were some spectacular views towards the Sainte-Victoire mountains further east.
After 12kms I arrived at the Bimont Lake and Dam, an artificial reservoir created in the 1950s following the construction of the dam. The reservoir can store 40 million cubic meters of water from the Infernet and Verdon rivers, supplying water to Marseille and the surrounding areas. I walked across the dam, viewing not least the difference in height of the water wither side of the dam wall.
After the dam, I continued along both wide easily walkable paths up towards the Sainte-Victoire mountains, walking towards the Cross of Provence, erected by a sailor in the 16th century by a sailor “on the first mountain he saw” after surviving a shipwreck. The mountain range was also depicted in several Cezanne paintings, as he could see it from his home in Aix.
The path didn’t go all the way up to the cross, but a small path continued upwards, parallel to the mountain range, for those that have time. I met a number of other walkers, some alone, others in large groups. This seems to be a popular area to walk, and for good reason, the views are fantastic, paths fine and today the weather beautiful.
The downward path was fairly steep and rocky towards the Sainte-Victoire information centre, where I met up with my wife and we had a picnic lunch. On the way down I saw a number of rock climbers, climbing the steep wall of the mountain.
The clouds were beginning to roll in and getting dark. Again it looked like afternoon rain was imminent. I continued, back on the D17 which I seem to have followed throughout this walk, towards the village of Puyloubier. I continued to flank the Sainte-Victoire mountains, with a limestone ridge extending for 18 kilometers.
I passed a couple of vineyards as I could feel a few drops of rain. Luckily it was only a few drops and I made it to Puyloubier – the rain didn’t become heavier before later in the afternoon.
My wife had driven to the village and we took a walk around before stopping for coffee and an excellent cake from the baker next door. As I couldn’t find a place to stay in the village, we drove to Rousset, where we spent the night.
A really fabulous walk from Aix-en-Provence, I can understand why I met so many other walkers today.