Arras France Tourism Guide

The Tusset Bridge and the Encastel trail will lead you to the “belvédère of Rancoumas“.

Departure: take the road that leads to the car park at “Le Point Sublime“. Keep your car there and walk on the road D952 for about 250 m.

You will find the trail GR 49 indicated on a wooden sign board (it has also a green lizard on it). Take this trail (the other one “GR 4” leads to the departure of the Martel trail). The trail GR 49 leads to the Tusset Bridge. This Roman bridge will allow you to cross the Verdon and to continue on the other bank. Just after crossing the bridge, turn right. The trail follows the Verdon and then crosses a forest.

The Roman Tusset Bridge

On the way, you will meet a small source that flows across the trail. (You can drink, the water is safe). Continue climbing till you arrive at crossroads. You will have to watch carefully to be able to see a very worn-out sign board, on a pine tree, indicating “Rancoumas” in red. Turn right and walk down using this laborious path full of stones. You will see ruines. You will cross a sort of pasture, full of flowers and rocks to finally arrive to the belvédère.

In front of you, you will be able to admire the cliffs of the Escalès, which are more than 300 m high! At the bottom, there is the Verdon river. You might also see walkers on the Martel Trail.
It takes about 3 hours to reach the belvédère of Rancoumas and to return (so, 1h30 min oneway).

The Tusset bridge: (it’s possible to swim in the river but the waters are often deceptive, so be careful! During the summer holiday, the nearby barrage is open twice a week to make sure that the level of the river is sufficient to prevent kayaks/canoes from hiting rocks!)