Rustrel Colorado

A MULTI-COLOURED LUBERON

The Provençal Colorado is an astonishing ochre open quarry, a curious enclave in the middle of a land that is devoted to vine growing.

A Far West landscape

A stone’s throw from Apt, at the foot of the Plateau of Albion, the village of Rustrel continues to benefit from the fame of its impressive neighbour: the Provençal Colorado, given its advantageous name in the fifties by Abbot Martel, a church cleric who was passionate about his native Luberon and who was also responsible for tracing the line of the GR6 hiking trail.

There are none of the vertiginous gorges here that you might expect, but a landscape reminiscent of the Far West, coloured with broad, sensuous strokes of colour, from ivory through to brick red.

Up to 40,000 ton of pigment

A bed of precious ochre that kept the families fed that exploited the quarry for over a century from 1871, when Jean Allemand set up the first ochre-washing works in the country. (There are 25 different colours on the site!) At the peak of its activity, in 1929, the ochre industry produced 40,000 ton of pigment, of which a considerable amount came from Rustrel.
The last man to work the ochre bed in Rustrel retired in 1992 and only one company, the “Société des Ochres de France”, still exploits the ochre at Gargas in the Apt region. “Progress” means that chemical colourings have tolled the death knell of ochre exploitation and turned the Provençal Colorado into a pleasant place to go for a walk. With no nostalgia for the old days…

Fairies or witches?

The many tracks left by feet on these vast stretches of sand provide evidence of the number of people who visit the site today. Four freely accessible trails have been laid out in this Colorado of many faces. (In the summer, only car parking must be paid for.) The shortest trail, which stretches over a short, steep kilometre, takes you up to the “Cheminées de Fées” (the Fairies’ Chimneys), picturesque columns topped by “pointed hats” and which sit in splendour at the top of the hill that is scratched by the picks of the old ochre collectors.
Here the fine, pure ochre soil presents a kaleidoscope of colours that blend with the dense green of the forest and the azure blue and white of a cotton-wool sky.

A refreshing oasis

“The Cascade” offers further promise: follow the signs on the trail that twists around a tiny stream stained with orange, up to the famous water “fall”, all that remains of the Doa, the river that runs from on high and used to permit intensive exploitation of the site (the water was used to separate the sand from the ochre).
Push your way through the fronds of chestnut trees, ferns and truffle oaks, along a refreshing path that contrasts with the mineral desert close by.

Picks and gunpowder
Before the bulldozer arrived, the ochre was mined with picks and explosives. The mineral was then washed and became friable. It then ran in the water to decantation tanks through “valats” (streams) that held back the sand.
When the layer of ochre became thick enough, it was left to dry in the mistral winds and the sun. At the end of the summer, bricks of pure ochre were taken to the factory to be treated.

A roller-coaster ride

There are many first-hand accounts of this period of the industry. The various walks are littered with steep pipes that were used to carry the ochre-laden water to the tanks. A broken-down, rust-eaten machine, an old gas-driven pump used to suck the water “down below”, can be seen in a ruined cabin. The Cirque de Barriès area is pierced with tunnels with high cathedral ceilings, which, if you listen, still ring with the sound of the irregular blows of the drill rods and carts rolling, filled to the brim. A last foray into the “Sahara”, on the west side, takes you on a pleasant roller-coaster path winding through canyons of all sizes.
The Provençal Colorado presents a final, unexpected postcard view, a splendid red stain on the countryside that has been surrendered to vines, lavender bushes and orchards.

Where does the ochre come from?

Over two hundred million years ago, Provence was just a vast expanse of water. One hundred million years later, the limestone rock was covered with clay and green sand.

The start of a tropical climate in Provence completely changed the topography of the region: the sea withdrew and torrential rains rinsed the sand, turning it into ochre sand.

What is ochre used for?

Ochre is used in the building industry for colouring plaster and cement, decorative tiles and roof tiles, etc. Industrial and artists’ paints also contain ochre.

More surprisingly, ochre is found in cosmetic powders and pastes, rubber inner tubes and jam jar seals and even in the food industry (in sausage skins and cheese rind, etc).