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GR430 Way of St Régis

Start: Le Puy-en-Velay

A loop of more than 200 km starting from Le Puy-en-Velay, in the footsteps of the walker Jean-François Régis. You link the volcanic plateaux of the Velay, the Mézenc, the Haut-Vivarais and the Meygal massif. A long GR for legs with stamina, to do in one go or in sections.

Distance: 207 km
Elevation gain: +6332 m
Elevation loss: -6324 m
Duration: 216 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 common thread is a walker. Jean-François Régis, a 17th-century Jesuit nicknamed the apostle of the Vivarais, would cover his 40 to 60 km a day to reach isolated farms, from dawn to nightfall. Neither snow nor the burle (that icy wind of the plateaux) stopped him. Walking his path means rediscovering that slow rhythm of the heights, village after village.

What we like here is the mix of terrain: volcanoes of the Velay and the Mézenc, granite around Montfaucon, the deep forests of the Meygal, wind-battered plateaux. You come across more sheep than people. It is a route for walkers who have the legs for it and who love the solitude of wide open spaces, not for a Sunday stroll. Bring enough to keep warm: up there, the weather turns quickly.

The route in detail

The start is in Le Puy-en-Velay, in the old town. From there, the GR430 loops for just over 200 km and brings you back to its starting point. Allow for about 6,300 m of positive elevation gain overall: nothing dizzying metre by metre, but it climbs and descends non-stop, between 595 and 1,300 m in altitude.

For the first few days, you gain height towards Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille, then Moudeyres and its thatched cottages, before tackling the slopes of the Mézenc. The path goes from meadows to conifer forests, with the volcanic sucs (peaks) showing on the horizon. Fay-sur-Lignon marks the point where you enter the wind of the plateaux.

You then swing over to the Haut-Vivarais side. Saint-Agrève, then Lalouvesc in the Ardèche, where Régis ended his journey and where a basilica is dedicated to him. The return heads back up through Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, Montfaucon-en-Velay and its granite plateau, before crossing the Meygal massif and Saint-Julien-Chapteuil to close the loop at Le Puy.

This is a long-distance GR, rated intermediate. Most people walk it in 9 to 12 days, with stages of 15 to 27 km. Nothing obliges you to do it all in one go: the route splits very well into sections of two or three days. The best window runs from late spring to autumn, when the plateaux are clear.