St. Privat-d'Allier - Saugues Haute-Loire, France Trails Index | Via Podiensis

From St. Privat-d'Allier there are rolling hills through the forest. Monistrol-d'Allier, at the bottom of the gorge of the Allier river, is about 8 km away. Along the way at the edge of the gorge was the stone built town of Rochegude with a thousand year old church and a small castle on the hill next to it. Then comes the long descent into the gorge. Monistrol features a steel bridge built by none other than Gustave Eiffel of Paris tower fame. The climb out of the gorge is much, much steeper than the road down into it. Part is next to a wall of columnar basalt and they've used some fallen columns as roadmarkers. Across the gorge, Rochegude is visible in the distance. And there is a small chapel carved into the rock of the hillside. There are a number of small towns with places to stop above the gorge on the way to Saugues, which is a larger town with restaurants and grocers. La Bête du Gévaudan has a full museum in town, and there is also an English tower.

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September 13^th, 2026 Saint-Privat-d'Allier to La Falzet (Blog | Photos)