Saint-Privat-d'Allier › Saugues

🗺️ Stage Map

📖 Stage Description

This is the stage people talk about before you even leave home. "The gorges of the Allier" — it sounds romantic. It is. But nobody tells you that the descent to Monistrol involves five hundred metres of elevation loss on a rocky, unforgiving path. Your knees will remember it.

Monistrol-d'Allier, at the bottom of its gorge, is one of the strangest villages on the Way. Streets clinging to cliff faces, houses that seem to defy gravity, the cave chapel of the Madeleine carved into the rock itself. You'll want to linger.

Then comes the climb back up. Five hundred metres of ascent to reach Saugues — town of the Gévaudan, home of the Beast. The Margeride plateau begins here: a land of granite, wind and wide open space. Saugues deserves an evening — the old town has real character.

This stage crosses the Haute-Loire region over 19.8 km with 520 m of ascent. Main villages: Rochegude (km 2, 900m), Monistrol-d'Allier (km 8, 580m) — cave chapel, Le Vernet (km 14, 960m).

🌄 Walking Conditions

Sun exposure and terrain type over 19,9 km

☀ Sun Exposure

🥾 Terrain

⏱️ Your Estimated Duration

Estimez votre temps de marche selon votre profil — calcul basé sur la règle de Naismith et le dénivelé de l’étape.

📍 Villages and Waypoints

• 0km

  Saint-Privat-d'Allier · Start

  Starting point of stage 2. Altitude: 770 m.

  💧 Water🏕️ Accommodation
• 5.3km

  Rochegude

  Village on stage 2.

  💧 Water🏕️ Accommodation
• 10.6km

  Monistrol-d'Allier — Chapelle troglodyte

  Village on stage 2.

  💧 Water🏕️ Accommodation
• 14.1km

  Le Vernet

  Village on stage 2.

  💧 Water🏕️ Accommodation
• 17.5km

  Saugues · End

  Arrival point of stage 2.

  💧 Water🛒 Shops🏕️ Accommodations

⚠️ Practical Information

• ⚠️
  Difficulty

  Very steep descent to Monistrol-d'Allier (−500 m over 6 km) — one of the sharpest descents on the GR65.

  Sustained climb of 400 m over 7 km back up to Saugues.

  Path slippery when wet — poles essential.
• 💧
  Water Points

  Monistrol-d'Allier (km 8)

  Fountain at Escluzels (km 12)

  Saugues (km 19.8)
• 🛒
  Supplies

  Saugues km 19.8 · Supermarket · Bakery
• 🏕️
  AccommodationGîtes, chambres d'hôtes and campsites available on arrival.
• 🌿
  Monuments & Heritage

  Gorges de l'Allier km 8 · Wild landscape at the bottom of the gorges, torrential river and sheer basalt cliffs

  Pont suspendu de Monistrol-d'Allier km 8 · 70 m suspension footbridge crossing the Allier, vertiginous in strong wind

  Chapelle Sainte-Madeleine de Rochegude km 12 · 12th-century Romanesque chapel on the path, fountain and pilgrim shelter

  Tour des Anglais de Saugues km 19.8 · Hexagonal 12th-century tower, vestige of the medieval castle, viewpoint over the Margeride

  Église Saint-Médard de Saugues km 19.8 · 12th-century Romanesque church with sculpted portal, treasury of the Beast of Gévaudan
• 🚕
  Taxi / Bail-out

  Taxi Saugues — 04 71 77 83 25

  Taxi Langeac (15 km) — 04 71 77 02 12