41 - Around the Dunière
Start: 1 place Jean Salque à Sainte-Sigolène
This demanding route will let you get close to the Dunière, famed for its wild gorges and its fine brown trout! You will pass through Sainte-Sigolène, Saint-Pal-de-Mons and Dunières, typical towns of granite Haute-Loire and symbols of flourishing economic activity, and will be delighted by the various viewpoints over the Sucs (volcanic peaks). You will even take a short stretch of the charming “Via Fluvia” greenway. At Lapte, for a real feast for the eyes, put your bike down for a few moments and climb the tallest bell tower in Haute-Loire. An exceptional panorama awaits you. (only accessible in July and August).
- Distance
- 40.6 km
- Elevation gain
- +867 m
- Elevation loss
- -867 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 Musée La Fabrique at Ste Sigolène. It was at the end of the 17th century that passementerie (ribbon making) appeared at Ste Sigolène and developed until the early 1950s, becoming at that time the national market leader in scarves, headscarves, etc… Competition from South-East Asian countries sounded the end of the glory days of weaving … but the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Sainte-Sigolène worked wonders! Like Abel Barbier, who in 1955 was the first to bet on polyethylene extrusion, many entrepreneurs launched into the adventure of plastics processing, which took hold all over the plateau and the surrounding cantons. Today, this sector generates around 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region and is adapting to environmental challenges with new methods. A living museum: the Musée “La Fabrique”, housed in a scarf-making workshop, retraces this unusual saga with weaving demonstrations on looms from different periods, plastics machines and a documentary film.
In pictures
Other hikes in the area
Mountain biking
Mountain biking
Mountain biking