Escapade The Lambert and La Verne menhirs

For today, what would you say to a trip to the Var region on an unusual discovery tour in an unspoilt, tranquil and replenishing setting?

The Menhirs of Lambert

Close to the village of Collobrières, on the Lambert plateau, stand the two tallest menhirs in the Var region (3.15m and 2.82m), both classified as French historical monuments.

To get to them, you first have to go to Collobrières village, which is a trip all by itself.

You can exit the village using the GR90 (red and white road markers) which leads to the uplands and Saint Roch campsite. It is a fairly steep climb but very beautiful. For an easier route, there is the option of following a track instead.
Exit Collobrières village in the direction of Grimaud (D14). After 6km, you’ll see a road on the right that leads in the direction of Chartreuse de la Verne. You can park your car in the car park 200m further along, and then set off on the tarmacked road on the right, which is forbidden to cars for reasons of fire safety.

It is a gentle climb in the company of Cork Oaks and Chestnut trees. In the morning, there’s nobody around, just crickets and wild boars. It makes for a lovely bike ride or relaxing walk with a pushchair.

After about an hour and a half, you arrive at state-owned Lambert Farm where the Forest Warden looks after its surrounding woodland.

Here, you can ponder the size of the a thousand year old chestnut tree. A little further along in the fields on the edge of the plateau, you cannot fail to see the twin menhirs. They are surrounded by a barrier, but there is access point meaning that you can experience these Neolithic souvenirs up close.

Nobody nowadays knows what their significance on the plateau is. They could be a memorial to deceased persons, geographic markers, landing markers or maybe just posts used for an ancient form of rugby – the theories are endless.

Once this part of the visit is over, you can also visit the Destéou waterfall by following the path on the left. Take the same path back in a downhill direction to reach your car.

Chartreuse de la Verne

Once back at your vehicle that you left in the car park, you can continue on your way to Chartreuse de la Verne, just 5km away.
Parking is available 500m from the monastery. The rest is done on foot. Its imposing exterior is spectacular. The exterior is even more impressive, when you consider that until recently, the Charterhouse lay in ruins.

The interior has been restored to working order to give visitors an idea of what life in the monastery would have been like in ancient times.

Lake La Verne

After the visit, if you’re still feeling energetic, well very energetic actually, because you have go back on yourself a little, you can follow the descent down to Lake La Verne via Capelude path followed by La Verne path.
The best solution is to get one person to drive the car to La Môle village and wait for the others near the dam. No doubt, someone in your party will have been tired out by all these visits, and will be glad to drive.

To get to the dam from La Môle, exit the village in the direction of Bormes les Mimosas. At the 3 aspect traffic lights turn right towards Saint Julien until you reach the gate that blocks cars from advancing any further.

For those of your party who choose to remain on foot, the descent from the Charterhouse brings you within view of the lake. It is a real delight to find such a large and peaceful expanse of water in a place like this. It looks like a huge mirror reflecting the hills that encircle it. Since swimming is forbidden, not many people frequent its banks, but you do see many species of birds and all sorts of colourful dragonflies.

Gently follow the path to the dam where you can all happily meet up and relax a little more in the sun and finish off with a picnic.

The Côte d'Azur is always full of amazing discoveries!