The Cross of Provence

The "Croix de Provence" is the monument sited on a peak at the end of Mont Sainte-Victoire range, positioned to be visible from the city of Aix-en-Provence, and beyond.  We can see it on the skyline from our terrace, and after some research into how hard it might be we decided to tackle the climb.

The information office in the village describes this track as "slightly difficult".  We drove the couple of kilometres down the road to the starting point, parked under a tree and set out.

It was easy at the start, and broad enough to serve as a 4WD track.

Then it got steeper and steeper, and we got slower and slower.

The track was steep for ages with no let up, and it was hot work.

Finally the road ran out, and it turned into a stony track.

The Cross still looked a long way above us!

Trees gave way to scrub, and the view opened up.

In that photo above you can see Lake Bimon, formed by Bimon Dam as the water supply lake for Aix en Provence.

Finally!  The gate to the priory at the top of the mountain.

We were thoroughly exhausted when the priory finally came into view.  It is no longer home to any monks, but is staffed part-time as a shelter for hikers.  This is still not actually at the Cross, which is another 50 metres or so above.

A peek inside the chapel at the priory.

There is a small tribe of chamois at the priory.

We were surprised to find these chamois hanging around at the priory, quite tame, and sticking their noses into people's lunches whenever an opportunity arose.  A couple of them had a bit of a jousting match, crashing heads and locking horns.

We sat down here to recover from the effort of the climb, and ate our bread and cheese lunches before the final push for the cross.  There were plenty of people up there, a constant stream of arrivals of all ages, including children.

Eventually it was time to climb the last few metres to the Cross.  That is actually probably the roughest part of the track, over steep, uneven rock which made climbing on all fours the best approach at times.

The priory.

The Cross of Provence.

The expansive view, to the north in this case.  Vauvenargues is down there.

View over the cliffs to the south.  Including a hang glider.

Here you can make out the dam on Lake Bimon.

It was perfectly pleasant on top of the mountain.  Quite warm with a bit of wind, and a beautiful clear day for the views.  One hang glider flew very close, raising a cheer from the hikers gathered around the cross.  We could see a few climbers on the cliffs below, working their way up.

Time to set out on the trip back down.

The steep incline meant that both the walk up and back down again were hard on our little old legs, reduced to jelly by the time we reached the car again.

Tomorrow will be a gentle recovery day!