Châteauneuf-Villevieille: Loop hike to Croix du Midi

The long Crête du Férion stretches about 8 km south of the summit, offering many interesting hiking opportunities, and both marked and unmarked itineraries.

We wanted to explore the southernmost part of the ridge, with a loop comprising both sides of the crête.

Parts of our hike turned out to be a bit more adventurous than expected.

Leaving Col de Châteauneuf

Châteauneuf-Villevieille

Starting from Col de Châteauneuf (627 m ; signpost #774), we descended along a good yellow-marked trail to the village of Châteauneuf-Villevieille where we forked left at signpost #775 (512 m). We followed the main road a bit to signpost #776 where we continued along a paved footpath to signpost #777 and crossed the D815 road again.

After the last few houses, we climbed along a narrow path (fading yellow markings), heading northwest. During the ascent, we had good views to the northeast with the Mercantour peaks further away. Nearer us, the impressive peak of Cime de Roccasiera dominated the landscape. As we approached the eastern side of Col du Férion, the incline gradually levelled out. In the woods, we reached a trail (red arrow on the map) marked with an interrupted black line on the map, and forked left. The main marked trail continued north to Colla Bassa.

Above Châteauneuf-Villevieille

Towards Col du Férion

We ascended a bit more near Col du Férion (902 m ), then turned south. This trail was actually quite good, and had trail itinerary markings. Approaching Terre Forte, familiar from one of our winter hikes, we heard that a sheep flock had arrived there. The guarding dogs were barking a lot as there was somebody on the main trail.

We forked left (south) and found the trail leading to la Croix du Midi. There were no signposts, just cairns here and there as well as faded blue dots on the rocks.

From the site (white arrow on the map), we had good views down to the valley (Contes etc) and beyond to the east.

We returned a bit to a large cairn. Not wanting to return all the way back to Terre Forte for obvious reasons, we searched for any trails descending directly down (west) to Vallon du Fournas and the main trail. We soon saw that there were cairns below us, in the steep incline. In places, the path was just visible. Surefootedness was needed as there was rolling unstable pebble. We proceeded carefully and reached the main hiking trail. There was a cairn at the intersection here as well. When using this option, it would have been easier to climb than to descend. In other words, do the hike clockwise.

The last stretch back to our starting point was fast and easy.