Chanteuges, Bourleyre and Tavernat

The route starts at the bridge over the Desges in the centre of the village of Chanteuges.

(S/E) Set off along Rue des Moulins; immediately after the bend, turn right and follow the St-Marcellin paved slanting street which climbs to the left. This was the old road from Langeac to Saugues until around 1825. Follow this paved slanting street straight on (it changes name) until you reach a small, level road where you’ll find the GR® 470 (marked in white and red). Follow it along this road (Rue du Péroux) to the right for 200 metres. Walk through the hamlet of Le Péroux.

(1) On leaving the hamlet, follow the level GR® path straight ahead (tarmacked for about a hundred metres), the Chemin Grand. After passing a villa, carry on straight ahead , ignoring the track branching off to the right, and continue until you reach a road (Route de St-Arcons).

(2)Turn right onto this road, then, at the stop sign 50 metresfurther on, turn left.120 metres further on, turn right onto the Route dePébrac. Pass under the railway line, and leave the road 50 metres before the bridge over the River Desges.

(3) Take the GR®470 to the left, onto a dirt track suitable for vehicles, the Chemin de la Prade, which follows the right bank of the river.

(4) About forty metres past the buildings of a mill on the other side of the river, leave the GR® and take a path on the left which first runs alongside a sewage treatment plant, then climbs up to the village of Bourleyre.

(5) At the end of this wide track, turn left onto a dirt track suitable for vehicles and, after 15 metres, take the track that climbs to the right and leads to the village. Go round the communal ovenon the right, andtake Rue du Fouganieron the right.

(6) At the fountain, ignore the road and keep to the right, following the GR®470 once more along the tarmac Chemin de la Riade between the bus shelter and a former hotel. Follow this track;100 metres further on, passa departmental road on the left, then a track suitable for vehicles on the right. Cross the woodland, and, as you reach the edge of the woodland, pass a track on the left. 80 metres after this track, you’ll reach a tarmac track.

(7) Leave the GR® and take this track on the left, heading towards the bridge over the Desges. Cross this bridge until you reach the road.

(8)Cross the D30 road (Route de Desges) and take the track branching off to the right; after a few metres, turn left. You will reach the road leading up to the hamlet of Tavernat. Take it to the left and, once you reach the entrance to the hamlet, continue straight on along Rue des Condamines. When you reach a T-junction, turn right onto the steeply sloping street. Take the street on the left. The route then follows the old track from Tavernat to Chanteuges, which predates the construction of the Pébrac and Desges road around 1895.

(9) On leaving the hamlet, at an old drinking trough, take a dirt track on the right. After reaching a high point, you’ll come to a three-way junction.

(10) Continue to the left. This very beautiful,shaded path – the old route from Tavernat to Chanteuges before the 1895 construction of the road through the Desges valley – leads to a bridge under the railway line, where it joins the Chemin de la Pelle. Take this path to the left and follow the railway line as far as Rue de la Gare, near a level crossing.

(11) Turn right and walk down this street to the D585 county road, reaching the bridge over the Desges and the starting point by first turning right then left (S/E).

Park at the station car park oron Rue des Moulins (café and tobacconist, bakery and grocery shop open Tuesday to Saturday, inn).

At the top of the Calade St-Marcellin, overlooking the village of Chanteuges, you can visit the former abbey, which became a priory until 1787, with its late^11th-century church and early^16th-century chapel.