Castles and villages in Queen Margot's country (loop no. 7)

At the foot of the Livradois mountains, from Sauxillanges and its Cluniac monastery, along a wide road on a gentle slope, you will reach Usson and climb up to the chapel built on top of a rocky spur, where a panoramic view you won't forget awaits you, one that Queen Margot enjoyed for 20 years during her exile in Auvergne. After the lovely village of Saint-Rémy-de-Chargnat, you will reach Parentignat and its château dating from the end of the reign of Louis XIV, remarkable for the rigour of its cour d'honneur (main courtyard) and its rich library. From Sarpoil, you will go back up the Valette valley by a narrow, winding road (ravin des Poiriers) as far as Saint-Etienne-sur-Usson (where Nicolas Philibert's film "Être et Avoir" was shot). As in all the villages of this area, look closely at the stones, which blend lovely colours (clay, arkose, basalt, granite...). After the village of Vernet-la-Varenne, you will cross broadleaf forests that fill damp, steep-sided little valleys and cling to the volcanic relief, before heading, after Condat-les-Montboissier, into the pleasant valley of the Astroux with its clear waters, which will bring you back to Sauxillanges.