20 - Conquering the Nouveau Monde
Start: Parking devant la mairie de Cayres
After a gradual start, the route soon gains height towards Saint-Jean-Lachalm, on open, exposed roads, with the Devès and its wind turbines as a backdrop. The rest of the circuit then swings towards the Allier gorges, with a long technical descent offering spectacular panoramas over a river that has stayed wild.
On the valley floor, the route runs alongside the Allier and lets you admire a remarkable railway achievement on the Paris-Nîmes line: the Chapeauroux Viaduct, a semicircular structure overlooking the village. After discovering the “Nouveau-Monde”, the end of the route promises to be more demanding, with a sustained climb out of the gorges, testing your endurance and how you manage your effort before a return via the Lac du Bouchet.
- Distance
- 61.6 km
- Elevation gain
- +1439 m
- Elevation loss
- -1440 m
- Duration
- 3 h
Route on the map
Base map © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA): route licensed under ETALAB-2.0 via Données : Comité Départemental Randonnée Pédestre Haute-Loire · FFRandonnée · sportsnature.hauteloire.fr — sous licence ETALAB 2.0.
The feel of the route
The Cévennes line This particularly daring route has more than 171 engineering structures: bridges, tunnels, viaducts. It is of very special interest in the history of railway building and remains an extraordinary testimony to the industrial adventure of the 19th century. In 1955, the Paris-Marseille train that uses this route was named the Cévenol. Even today, this train is a unique way of discovering the Allier gorges, a wild, unspoilt environment that is extremely hard to reach. A tourist train also runs over the summer period.
The route in detail
Take care on the descent between Saint-Haon and Chapeauroux, especially on the hairpins before you reach the Nouveau Monde.
Other hikes in the area
Mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking