The Provençal Colorado

15 points of interest

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  Patrimony and history

  Rustrel and its castle

  The landscape of Rustrel has been shaped by generations of ocher workers and peasants: hills with ocher sites and valleys with market gardens. The village is dominated by its traditional Upper Provence castle, a quadrilateral flanked by four round corner towers, probably built in the early 17th century. The town of Rustrel began to buy parts of the building in 1847 and now fully owns the castle which houses the town hall and a rest house.

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  Patrimony and history

  Opération Grand Site Massif des Ocres

  Classified site since 2002, the ochres of Apt are one of the largest deposits in the world. With a significant number of visitors and risks of degradation, the Massif des Ocres raises lots of questions. In 2010, working in tandem with local actors, an "Opération Grand Site" (sustainable Tourism project) was launched to implement a development project, good management and preservation of natural and landscape heritage but also cultural heritage in the hope of becoming a "Grand Site de France".

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  Patrimony and history

  Restoring the views on the Provençal Colorado

  Since the end of the ochre processing, vegetation gradually invaded the Provençal Colorado. The colonisation of Scots pine (highly flammable) has become a landscape issue but also a safety one. Also in 2015, tree cuttings were done to recreate landscape openings and to find old quarry excavated faces. The goal was to reinstate the ochre in the site but also in the great landscape and safeguard the visitors by creating an assembly point.

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  Geology

  Ochre formation

  The ochre sands result from a deep chemical modification of green marine sands. About 100 million years ago, green sands emerged and were altered under a hot and humid climate which transformed into, amongst others, ochre sands. It is from these sands extracted in quarries that ochre is made. Warning, mountain biking in the heart of the Provençal Colorado in Rustrel is forbidden, as is the sampling of ochre sands in natural environment.

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  Patrimony and history

  Ochre processing in Rustrel

  The Provençal Colorado is an old ochre operating quarry which dates back to the 19th century. The distinctive feature of the extraction is the use of water which served for washing the excavated faces. The sands were then dissolved and rolled down the slopes to the settling ponds. The remains from working the ochre are still found today on the site as an aqueduct, a network of pipes, pumping machines, drying ponds ...

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  Flora

  Banks and rainforests

  Mainly located along the Doa, an alluvial forest of softwood (like th poplar) has settled in connection with the layer of the river. They play many biological roles, namely, maintaining the banks, the self-purification of water, a reservoir and an ecological corridor for many species. They are a breeding and feeding hub for many species of birds and insects.

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  Flora

  The laurel leaved Rockrose

  The laurel leaved Rockrose (Cistus laurifolius) is an easily identifiable shrub with its large evergreen, lanceolate, and dark green leaves leaves, and beautiful white flowers in spring. You may even recognize them with your eyes closed since its light, sweet perfume spreads in its immediate environment. Strictly dependent on acid soils, it is rather localized in our region, but is fairly common in the ocher massif where it can be found on the borders and clearings of woodlands.

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  Patrimony and history

  Ocher and operation

  Below is the old mining area Barriès (private - guided tour only). From washing, then decanting in large basins, to drying, crushing, and baking, a large scale of natural pigment was made, with a variety of colors. Launched in the 18th century, the industrial process for making ochre pigment reaches its high point in the 1920s. Today, the Société des Ocres de France still operates a quarry in Gargas and produces 1200 tons of ochre per year.

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  Fauna

  Protected vultures

  In the 80s, the cliffs just above Rustrel housed a famous couple of Egyptian vultures. Smaller than European vultures, this scavenger and detritivorous animal is also a long-haul flight expert! In 1998, thanks to tracking markers, school children were able to follow their migration to Sahelian Africa. The couple disappeared from our skies for a few years and their young descendants have not taken over. There are a hundred of couples in France.

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  Geology

  Slabs with imprints

  This exceptional site is a limestone slab which has on its surface over 200 footprints of mammals that lived in the area about 30 million years ago. Near a vast lake, rhinos have left three-toed footprints while the two-toed ones belong to mouse-deers or warthogs (related to the wild swine). The mammal footprint imprinted slabs are very rare throughout the world but 8 were profiled in the Luberon!

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  Geology

  Pattern imprinted concrete from Viens

  200m left, a limestone slab has on its surface more than 200 footprints of mammals that lived in the area about 30 million years ago. Near a vast lake, rhinos have left three-toed footprints while the two-toed ones belong to mouse-deers or warthogs (related to the wild swine). The mammal footprint imprinted concrete is very rare throughout the planet but 8 were described in the Luberon!

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  Flora

  Flowering plants, the Luberon gem

  Adonis, Cornflower, Love-in-a-mist... The Luberon is one of two regions of France richest in annual garden flowering plants, called "Harvest companions". Unfortunately, highly threatened in France, these plants depend completely on traditional farming for survival, as it is still done here by farmers that use little or no herbicides on their fields. The work of these farmers is essential for the preservation of a rich and fertile soil in the Luberon.

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  Patrimony and history

  Morenas, the avant-gardist

  In the Provençal Colorado, Francis Morenas was the first one to mark hiking routes in 1953. True pioneer of the southern GR, often called a "fada" (an informal term used to say someone is a bit nuts, crazy) by the locals, with his billhook and his pickaxe, he prepared over 1500km of trails between Ventoux, Monts-de-Vaucluse and Luberon. Fascinated, he loved above all sharing his pleasure for the outdoors with others. Until his last breath, he continued to maintain his footsteps, which have now more or less disappeared.

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  Flora

  They like ocher...

  In a very limestone environment, the ocher massif of Luberon offers the vegetation a unique sandy substrate in which an outstanding procession of siliceous (growing on silica), acidophilous (growing on acid soil) and psammophilous (growing on sand) plants develops. At the heart of the maquis, lawns colonize small isolated clearings in which rare species took refuge, some of them being protected by law.

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  Water and rivers

  The Dôa, the multicolored torrent

  The torrent has its source in the town of Viens (5 km away, to the east) and flows into the Calavon, a sub-tributary of the Rhone via the Durance. Before going through the Provençal Colorado, the Dôa runs through valleys surrounded by hills and the foothills of the mountains of Vaucluse. During its course through Rustrel, when there are violent thunderstorms, the torrent charges ochreous muds and clay loam which give a yellow to orange color to its waters.