オリエールのおすすめライド

Top route !!

Top route

From Gémenos, the Col de l'Espigoulier is reached after an 11.2km climb (574m elevation gain). The average gradient is 5.1%. The Espigoulier's special feature? Its switchbacks! Like a beautiful mountain pass, the road twists and turns to offer views (especially of Marseille in the distance), areas for recovery, and beautiful steep sections! The surrounding landscape is simply superb. The road was particularly quiet on the way up (between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on a Friday in July), but it was coming hard from the opposite direction. Keep your eyes peeled 😉

This tortuous serpent-like climb out of Nans-les-Pins is a little gruelling in parts but is well worth the effort. It is a wonderfully traffic-free, well paved climb through a rocky terrain with great vistas. At its end, I turned left towards Mazargues parallel to St Baume along a fast, newly resurfaced road, which is slightly undulating and again is free of traffic. This area in the shadow of St Baume seems to have it own micro climate with clouds seemingly just out of reach! I did a great loop starting in St Maximin.

best to drive only with lights

Free self-guided tour, opening from 7am, description of the basilica at €0.50 - Magnificent religious building which is well worth the detour and the hour I spent visiting the whole thing.

To visit in summer or spring, many vineyards and various fields

The parish church of Saint-Trophime is a building built in the 11th century, enlarged in the 18th century, which has a cross-ribbed nave and a square bell tower surmounted by a 17th century campanile. On the front, a statue of the Virgin surmounts the entrance gate, on a plate located below the statue is engraved this inscription: "Immaculate Virgin be the guardian of Pourrières, mission of 1872" It houses Our Lady of Bius and Our Lady of Mercy.