Hiking through the countryside, east of Marseille

The starting point for this walk is in Eoures (0), at the "Eoures village" bus stop. To reach it from central Marseille, take RTM bus line 12 from the "Timone" metro station. Pass the church (1), the "aux tropiques" shop (2) and then fork left onto boulevard du Monument until the next intersection with rue Arnould, where you turn left. Go straight ahead, skirting a large park which conceals a beautiful, unseen country house, until you reach a traffic circle. Go down Rue de Ruissatel. You'd be forgiven for thinking that this was once the countryside, with a handful of beautiful mansions, bastides and, above all, a majority of farmland producing early vegetables and olive oil. Green spaces at the foot of the 445-meter-high Ruissatel hill. You've now reached the heart of the village of Les Camoins. On your right, a gate leads to a modern fountain (3). Go around the church of Sainte-Agathe and down the rue of the same name, then the rue Saint-Roch. If the church is open, you can still admire a wooden bust of this Saint-Roch. In the 19th century, this narrow street was home to a post office, where the omnibus to Marseille departed and arrived. For the younger generation, the omnibus is the ancestor of the bus. In those days, the vehicle was horse-drawn. Rue Saint-Roch leads to montée d'Eoures, which you follow to the right for a few meters, then left into traverse de la Penne. You'll continue to pass through suburban areas with beautiful detached houses. Take a look at number 63 (4). After a few steps, turn right onto the traverse de Saint-Menet. At number 21, you'll find a rare plot of undeveloped land, currently undeveloped. Will it resist? In the distance, the view is unobstructed over three mountains in the Calanques massif: Lantin, Saint-Cyr and Carpiagne. Once you've passed nr. 27 of the traverse, walk a little further to reach a secret passage in the wall, which we invite you to use. Marcel Pagnol and his parents' route to Bastide Neuve must have looked like this at times. We love it here at the Marseille tourist office (5). You have to cross the housing estate, part of the Parc des Sept Collines, which refers to the hills you could see in the past, when this was still farmland. Keep to the right down rue Hilaire Curtil until it opens onto a wider road, la traverse de la Buzine, which you have to walk down until you reach a nursery school. Walk along the school's fence to reach the entrance to the Parc des 7 Collines (6). Cross the park to reach the Château de la Buzine forecourt (7). Leave the site through the main gate and join the old panel opposite, which gives details of life in the bastide and the Château de la Buzine. Behind it, a small path runs along the road to the left, allowing you to take a short stroll through the greenery. In the distance, on the right, you'll see a very tall building with two towers and part of its roof topped by a lighthouse. This is the Lycée Paul Mélizan (8). At the end of the field, go back up to the road, the traverse de la Buzine, and go straight ahead. Then take the first right, the chemin de Saint-Menet aux Accates. This becomes a small footpath alongside a dry-stone wall, then joins the D4A departmental road, which you must cross to continue towards the historic heart of Les Accates. Until you reach the village church, the path is still called "chemin de Saint-Menet aux Accates". When you reach the Saint-Christophe square and crossroads, which are pleasantly shaded by several plane trees, walk along the restaurant building and up the Fenêtres Rouges crossroads (9) until you reach the small Jeanne d'Arc square, recognizable by a pretty house on the corner with blue shutters. Turn left, then right at the end to climb back up. You'll gain height as you follow a tarmac path winding through the vegetation to the Accates cemetery. There's a bench in the shade of several holm oaks, where you can take a break. To the left of the bench, take a path which, after offering a last bird's-eye view of the cemetery, joins a fenced property which you must walk along to the right. Walk under the pines along the fence and you'll soon reach a carriage road, the Canal au Val path. The first landmark to confirm that you're in the right place is a fig tree growing like a bush with several trunks in a field on your right. Shortly afterwards, you'll come to the Camoins diversion, a branch of the Marseille canal that supplies water to the land in the neighborhoods you pass through. The road then changes its name (although it's not clear whether there are any signs in situ) to Chemin de la Salette, marking the invisible dividing line between the Accates (left) and Valentine (right) districts. Follow this until you reach a junction with the Chemin des Accates, which you should take down to no. 61. At this point, you can leave the road to enter a natural area, a verdant park, and follow the path to the other end, marked by the ruins of an ancient bastide, La Denise (10). Cross the traffic circle to enter and cross the Denise departmental park (11). Leave the park on the D4A departmental road. Follow this road to the left (past the Fabrique bakery) to reach the RTM "Lycée Paul Mélizan" bus stop, where you can take lines 12, 12B or 12S to return to the town center and La Timone, the collective terminus for these 3 bus lines.