The Giants' Causeway (Sentier des Ocres) is a natural park of jagged cliffs of ochre beside the village of Roussillon. A walking tour of the park should take well under an hour. The entrance is on the small hill facing the village, beside the cemetery and one of the parking lots. Here are fairy tale groves of chestnuts, maritime pines and scrub alongside a trail that goes through nature’s powdery sunset coloured paint palette of ochre formations created by erosion and winds over centuries. Don’t wear white. Your walking tour starts and ends at the same place, with a loop down into a shady forest in between, all on earth trails with a coating of fine sand. Entrance is €2 and it is pen 9.30 – 5.30. The russet red village of Rustrel (Pop. 621) is 10 kms northeast of Apt. Although ochre has been used in the Luberon since Roman times, it wasn’t until 1785 that large deposits of the hydrated oxidised iron-and-clay sands were mixed industrially. During the peak of the ochre industry in the late 1920’s, 40,000 tons of ochre were mined around Apt. About 90% of this was exported to other parts of Europe and America. Traditionally used as a pigment to colour pots and buildings, ochre actually comes in some 25 shades ranging from delicate yellow to vivid orange and fire red. Rustrel’s Colorado Provencal – a walking trail of red ochre sand with rock formations like the fiery upright Cheminée de Fée (Fairy Chimney). These were part of a quarry where ochre was mined from 1880 to 1956. Colour coded trails for two of the most dramatic walks – the ‘blue Sentier de Cheminée de Fée (1km) and the ‘red’ Sentier de Sahara (1.5) can be picked up in the Parking des Mille Coulers car park which is signposted south of Rustrel village off the D22 TO Banon. Parking costs €3.50 including a trail map (9am – dusk).