The Gorges du Loup are one of the outstanding nature reserves in the southeast of France. Unfortunately, they are also far away from the coast and difficult to reach.
Which is why we have long ago placed them on the list of Things We Intend To Do One Day In The Future, somewhere between visiting New Zealand and reading Heidegger.
This was before I found out that there was something called the Petites Gorges du Loup, further downstream along the same river and less savage but also less remote and easier to reach by public transport.
So last week we went, expecting these petites gorges to be gorge-like enough for our purposes – but they turned out to be absolutely gorgeous in their own right.
How to Get to the Gorgeous Banks of the River Loup
To get to the banks of the River Loup, take Ligne d’Azur bus no. 400 from anywhere on its route between Nice and Vence, (the nearest stop to a train station is in Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Square du Mai) and leave the bus in La-Colle-sur-Loup Village.
This is a quaint and charming little town, featuring a street pattern that looks pretty much unchanged from what it must have been like over a hundred years ago.
From the bus stop, you must walk through the entire village to get to the river, so you may as well have a good look around.
We recommend to walk down the main road, called Rue Clemenceau, and to take a detour via a right turn into Rue Laurenti, a left turn into Rue de la Victoire and another left turn into Rue Barel, if only to peek at the extraordinary garden-cum-folk-art-museum that you will find on your right hand side …
… and, if you are lucky enough to meet him as he potters about, for a chat with the little museum’s owner, curator and creator who clearly loves to talk to people who happen to pass by and take an interest in his exhibits.
This man is a loveable, friendly and only slightly eccentric old chap, who – as he told us – spent some time as a student in Britain, so you will find communication not too arduous even if your French is a bit rusty.
After your return to Rue Clemenceau, follow the road straight out of town into the Chemin de la Croix and the Rue du Pont de Pierre before taking a left turn into the Chemin de la Fuontsanta.
At the end of the foot path, you will find the 17th century chapel of Saint Donat from whose windows you can get your first preview of the river Loup.
The trail proper that begins a few metres further down the path …
… starts quietly as a fairly broad hiking boulevard, but after a short while, the hilly riverside embankments begin to climb, first on your left hand side …
… and then on your right …
… and before you know it, you find yourself on a narrowing path in a veritable canyon that has been cut in between two mighty opposing cliffs.
The river trail, meanwhile, descends all the way to the gravelbed …
… and continues through the bush.
Now, the real fun begins.
At this stage, this is not no longer an ordinary hiking trail but a narrow foot path through wild and dense vegetation.
While you can always see where the trail continues, you may at times need to proceed with a little more care and caution than usual.
Some of the stones in your way are hip-high, so you must develop a strategy of how to get past these obstacles – and perhaps search a low-hanging branch for support.
No superhuman athletic feats are required, but this is surely not a trail on which you would bring along children in a pram or your 90-year old grandmother. The rewards, at any rate, are rich.
This stretch of approx. 1 km surely provides one of the best hiking experiences that you can find anywhere in a region which is, generally speaking, not short of natural beauty.
Soon after you have left the bushes, the trail becomes a broad hiking boulevard again – and soon merges into a small country road, called the Chemin de Montmeuille.
Follow this up to the bus stop (the hourly Envibus no. 23 which will take you to Villeneuve Loubet Village)
But if you have just missed a bus or feel you still have the energy, you can also walk towards Villeneuve (taking a right turn at the intersection) which should take you no longer than 20 to 30 minutes. From there, you can then take Ligne d’Azur bus no. 500 to Nice.
We recommend this gorgeous walk along the banks of the River Loup highly. It is surely one of the best short trips in the land between the high mountains and the Riviera, something refreshingly different from lush subtropical beaches and barren mountainscapes.
And there are lots of things on the way that will surprise and delight you.
