The Loup (; oc, Lop) is a river in the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, Southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. With a length of , it ends in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Villeneuve-Loubet Villeneuve-Loubet (; oc, Vilanuòva e Lo Lobet; it, Villanova Lobetto) is a Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in southeastern Fran ...

, near

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

. It takes its source in Andon.

Geography

The total length of the river is . The source of the Loup is north of the mountain of Audibergue in the municipality of Andon, a small town in the

situated at nearly above sea level and surrounded by small ski resorts. The stream first turns east, then turns south and forms the Gorges du Loup, a series of gorges. After passing

Bar-sur-Loup Le Bar-sur-Loup (, literally ''Le Bar on Loup''; oc, So Barn; it, Albarno) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Originally known simply as Le Bar, the commune was renamed Le Bar-sur-Loup by a decree dated 27 M ...

, it resumes its course towards the east, passes south of the city of

Vence Vence (; oc, Vença) is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France, north of Nice and Antibes. Ecclesiastical history The first known Bishop of Vence is Severu ...

, then moves towards the south-east and arrives at

. From there it flows into the

southwest of

Hydrology

The water flow in the Loup was observed for a period of 34 years (1980-2013) in

, a commune in the

, located at its mouth at the

. The river's

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

is ,Bassin versant : Loup (Le)
Observatoire Régional Eau et Milieux Aquatiques en PACA and the average flow rate is 4.480 m³/s.

Cities and villages along the river

The Loup flows through the following cities and villages (source to mouth): :Andon,

Gréolières Gréolières (; oc, Greulieras) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department The following is a list of the 163 communes of the Alpes-Maritimes de ...

Cipières Cipières (; oc, Cipieras) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Cipieres is about 50 minutes drive from the French Riviera, and is an unspoilt medieval village of around 500 inhabitants. There are two resta ...

Courmes Courmes (; oc, Cormes) is a Communes of France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in southeastern France, near the eastern part of Gorges-du-Loup. Population See also *Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes departme ...

, Gourdon, Pont-du-Loup,

, La Colle-sur-Loup,

Gorges du Loup

The ''Gorges du Loup'' is a gorge carved by the Loup river in the

Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps (french: Alpes Maritimes ; it, Alpi Marittime ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy ...

in France, about 45 minutes from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Waterfalls

There are several cascades in the gorge. Among them are the ''Saut du Loup'' and the ''Cascade de Courmes''. File:sautduloup2.jpg, Saut du Loup File:sautduloup1.jpg, Saut du Loup File:SautDuLoup.jpg, Saut du Loup File:MK54518 Cascade de Courmes.jpg, Cascade de Courmes

Climbing

Alexandre Chabot - PuntX 9a - Gorges du Loup

The gorge is a popular climbing area with several high-level routes, with at least 22 routes above the grade . According to UKClimbing the gorge offers a total of 451 routes set in the French

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. The first free route in the gorge was ''Déversé Satanique'', opened by Bernard Duterte in the mid 1980s. Now graded .

9a difficulty routes

* ''Kick Ass'' - August 2012 - Enzo Oddo * ''Trip Tik'' Tonik - July 2011 - Gérome Pouvreau * ''PuntX'' - 12 August 2007 -

Alexandre Chabot Alexandre Chabot (born December 27, 1981) is a French professional rock climber, specialising in lead climbing. He won three consecutive Lead Climbing World Cups and three consecutive Rock Masters. In France, he was awarded seven times the natio ...

* ''Abysse'' - 28 July 2006 - Alexandre Chabot * ''Kinematix'' - 6 October 2001 - Andreas Bindhammer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loup (River) Rivers of France Rivers of Alpes-Maritimes Rivers of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 0Loup Climbing areas of France