La Combe Railroad
Bayons
Easy
La Combe Railroad
Easy4h
10,8km
+304m
-304m
Loop
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Description
- From Bayons (875 m), head east along the street that winds its way between the houses. At the fork, turn left. Soon after passing the last houses, walk past the war memorial and join Route D 1.
- Continue along the road ahead; it turns into a dirt track.
- At the Soubeyrache ford (900 m), take the trail on the right and cross the Sasse via a footbridge. The trail becomes rocky as it winds through a large “gineste” (former pasture overgrown with broom). At the pass, the landscape becomes marly. At the foot of the Tête de Bresse, the trail becomes less rocky.
- At the junction with the Grande Cabane trail, turn left and head downhill. Pass by the animal watering holes and go through the gate, closing it behind you.
- At the intersection with the Combe trail (1,010 m), turn left to follow it back to the Soubeyrache ford and the starting point in Bayons.
- Departure : Center of the village, Bayons
- Arrival : Center of the village, Bayons
- Towns crossed : Bayons
Forecast
Altimetric profile
Information desks
Transport
Let’s limit our trips and use public transportation and carpooling: https://zou.maregionsud.fr
Access and parking
From Sisteron (30 km), take the D 951, then the D 1 toward Bayons.
Parking :
Parking lot in Bayons
1 point of interest
Mur de soutènement - Office de Tourisme La Motte du Caire 
HistoryLa Combe Railroad
No, you’re not dreaming—a railroad track was actually built in the 1920s in this remote corner of the Provençal highlands. Back then, wood was used to shore up mine tunnels, erect telegraph poles, and make railroad ties. As a result, in this valley of La Combe, nestled between the headwaters of the Sasse River and the village of Bayons, a railway transported the timber harvested from its slopes. A small steam train handled the transport all the way down to the village, taking over from a cable car that served the valley floor, near the hamlet of La Combe. This hard labor was carried out mainly by Piedmontese lumberjacks and charcoal burners. It was certainly a difficult trade, but also a dangerous one, as some in the village recall or heard in their youth that, when this train first began operating, one of them perished under its wheels. Today, there are no more railcars, no more screeching brakes or wheels on the tracks, but a few walls or rusted remnants from that era (especially after crossing the Sasse and heading up the GR 6 near the ruins of L’Adret) remind us of this human adventure from the last century.
Accessibility
Family- Emergency number :
- 114
More information
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