Annot, Entrevaux and the Train des Pignes: Sandstone Boulders and Vauban's Zigzag
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
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Grès d'Annot Boulderer
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300
XP
+100 France
= 400 total
2 days
Annot, Entrevaux and the Train des Pignes: Sandstone Boulders and Vauban's Zigzag
300 + 100 XP
The Train des Pignes runs the 151 km line from Nice to Digne through the valleys of Haute-Provence, stopping at Entrevaux and Annot. At Entrevaux the only way up to the citadel is a paved path of 800 m on nine zigzag ramps, gaining 156 m and closed by a series of gates, laid out in the works Vauban signed off in 1692. Above Annot, the Grès d'Annot are a chaos of sandstone blocks spread over nearly 40 km², a site climbers know nationally and where bouldering is the main game.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Ride the Train des Pignes between Entrevaux and Annot, an 8 km section opened in 1908, or carry on down the Var towards Puget-Théniers and Nice, and pick out the Éléphants works above Entrevaux where the line and the road pass under the same structure
2
of 4
Walk in through the Porte de Savoie, over its two successive drawbridges and through its three doors set as a chicane, then count off the nine ramps of the fortified path as you climb the 156 m to the citadel, and look back at how the cathedral's crenellated bell tower was built into the rampart as a watchtower
3
of 4
Walk up into the Grès d'Annot on the chemin de Vers-la-Ville and find the rocher aux Cent-Marches with its staircase cut into the sandstone, then the Chambre du Roi and the Dent du Diable, and try a boulder problem on one of the blocks
4
of 4
Climb to the chapel of Notre-Dame de Vers-la-Ville, built on a shelf in front of a sandstone scree, and find the sockets cut in the rock faces around it that held the beams of the wooden houses of Annot's first village
Ride the Train des Pignes between Entrevaux and Annot, an 8 km section opened in 1908, or carry on down the Var towards Puget-Théniers and Nice, and pick out the Éléphants works above Entrevaux where the line and the road pass under the same structure
Walk in through the Porte de Savoie, over its two successive drawbridges and through its three doors set as a chicane, then count off the nine ramps of the fortified path as you climb the 156 m to the citadel, and look back at how the cathedral's crenellated bell tower was built into the rampart as a watchtower
Walk up into the Grès d'Annot on the chemin de Vers-la-Ville and find the rocher aux Cent-Marches with its staircase cut into the sandstone, then the Chambre du Roi and the Dent du Diable, and try a boulder problem on one of the blocks
Climb to the chapel of Notre-Dame de Vers-la-Ville, built on a shelf in front of a sandstone scree, and find the sockets cut in the rock faces around it that held the beams of the wooden houses of Annot's first village
Before you go
The Digne end of the line is not running: since the Moriez tunnel collapse the leg from Saint-André-les-Alpes to Digne-les-Bains is a replacement coach calling only at Moriez, Barrême, Chaudon-Norante, Mézel and Digne, so check before planning a through journey. The Grès d'Annot is a classified natural site, free and open all year, but the boulders are unequipped: take a mat and go with someone who knows the site if you have not bouldered before. The climb to the Entrevaux citadel is paved but steep and has no shade; there is a small charge for the citadel itself.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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