4. The 4 valleys circuit - Stura - Maira - Haute Tinée - Ubaye - Stage 4

From Bousiéyas, take the D64 downhill for around 2km towards Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée, and reach the hamlet of Pra (1700 m - m32). The path begins on your left, 300m after having crossed the bridge over the Salso Moreno valley. It has clear marker with a yellow rectangle and it initially climbs along hairpin bends on the rocky southern slope which overlooks the road before reaching the verdant Morgon plateau (footbridge). The itinerary crosses the prairie, heading over a secondary summit (b33), before heading downhill for few metres towards the Tortisse valley and, via a long uphill section which passes over the mountain stream, reaching the Tortisse plateau and forest houses. (2252m). At marker 34, turn left and head slightly uphill towards the Tortisse mountain stream, which you will need to ford and then rise along a good path opposite the worn away stacks until you reach the grasses of the Col du Fer (2584m - b35). When the weather is fine, there is a magnificent panorama over the Mercantour and Italy.

Continue along the path with signposts for the Vens refuge via an uphill section which leads to the wide secondary summit of Tortisse (2591m - b35a), at the foot of the stacks of Tortisse. Shortly after having begun the descent, you will suddenly be able to see the series of lakes which occupy the bottom of the Vens glacial cirque, as well as the CAF refuge (2380 m), which shelters on a rocky bar, to the east of the great upper lake.