The chapel and tower of Rochegude

This easy hike takes you along the^GR® 65 (the famous Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle trail) to discover the chapel and keep of Rochegude, which dominate the Allier valley. Then a beautiful descent through a forest will take you to Pratclaux for a return to the village of Saint-Privat.

Details

n°2693

Creation:
21 Feb 2012

Last update:
31 Aug 2018

Last review:
25 Aug 2025

Activity: Walking
Distance: 7.71 km
Average duration: 3h 00
Difficulty: Moderate
Back to start: Yes
Ascent: + 286 m
Descent: - 293 m
Highest point: 955 m
Lowest point: 763 m

Country: France
Areas: Massif central, Margeride
District: Saint-Privat-d'Allier (43580)
Start/End: N 44.990801° / E 3.678187°
IGN map(s): Ref. 2736O
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Photos

The Rochegude tower and Saint Jacques chapel

Description of the walk

Departure from the square in front of the town hall. Access: in the centre of the village of Saint-Privat-d'Allier, turn right at the Le Komposte'l café bar (near the petrol pumps) and climb towards the Jobert garage.

(S/E) From the car park, follow the road uphill towards Nolhac.

(1) At the second hairpin bend to the right, turn left onto the^GR®65, marked in red and white, leaving the three crosses on your right. Join the D301 and follow it to the right.

(2) After the Saint-Privat exit sign, descend to the left onto a narrow path. Then go back up to the road and take the path opposite that goes uphill. Turn right and then left onto a dirt track, bordered on the left by a hedge of trees. Reach the hamlet of Les Combriaux.

At the exit, at the intersection with another road, turn right onto a narrow path which initially runs alongside the road and allows you to cut across the hairpin bend. At the intersection with the road, turn right.
after about 500 metres, before a bend, climb up to the right onto a path overlooking the road before rejoining the tarmac.

(3) Immediately afterwards, take a path that descends and leads to the hamlet of Rochegude.

Pass between two houses to reach the 12th-century chapel built on top of a rocky outcrop and dominated by the tower of a castle that no longer exists.

Once you have visited the site, take the path that descends to the D301.

(4) Turn left. After the bend, turn left again onto the^GR® which climbs towards the hamlet of Pratclaux.

(5) When you reach the road, turn left onto the tarmac road, then turn right and follow the road straight ahead for about 250 metres

(6) Take the^GR® on the left and rejoin the road.

(7) Continue straight ahead along the wide dirt track. Ignore the paths that branch off to the right until you reach the D301.

Continue on the asphalt road and, just before a building, take the path downhill that you took on the way there to reach the entrance to Saint-Privat.

(2). After the bend, take the tarmac path that descends towards the town centre to return to your starting point (S/E).

Waypoints

S/E : km 0 - alt. 879 m - Place in front of the town hall
1 : km 0.2 - alt. 902 m - Second hairpin bend, to the left
2 : km 0.62 - alt. 884 m - Exit Saint-Privat, on the left
3 : km 2.54 - alt. 933 m - Road, path on the left
4 : km 4.05 - alt. 765 m - D301, on the left
5 : km 4.23 - alt. 775 m - Road, on the left
6 : km 4.51 - alt. 790 m - GR°°®°° on the left
7 : km 4.93 - alt. 784 m - Road, opposite via a dirt track
S/E : km 7.71 - alt. 877 m - Place in front of the town hall

Notes

No major difficulties, except for the steep, rugged path on the descent between Rochegude and Pratclaux (between waypoints (3) and (4)). For this steep descent, it is recommended that you wear high-top, non-slip shoes, or even telescopic poles if you are used to using them.

Worth a visit

Saugues: the town and museum of the Beast of Gévaudan
Discover the Allier Gorges by raft.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5

Based on 19 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.4 / 5

Ease of following the route
4.3 / 5

Route interest
4.6 / 5

User 12760992

25 Aug 2025 at 09:42 7200

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 25, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A short hike that allows you to discover the local landscape.
The descent after the chapel is not particularly difficult for experienced hikers. However, in rainy weather or on wet ground, it would be more challenging.

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Monique38

21 Feb 2024 at 19:44 3600

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 21, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

The welcoming committee at Rochegude: three menacing dogs... not very friendly!

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Waitukubuli

08 Sep 2023 at 17:20 7200

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 08, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike, with varied heritage and wooded paths lined with beautiful trees. Thank you for this lovely walk.

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zejmic

02 Sep 2023 at 07:19 7200

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant walk, as described, with no particular difficulties apart from a few fairly steep sections where caution is required. However, to my surprise, some parts of the "Chemin de Saint-Jacques" were very overgrown and, with the brambles, I was glad I was wearing trousers. On the section after the tower, the geolocation, which is usually extremely accurate, was a little off.

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robin monnier

07 Aug 2023 at 14:28 7200

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 07, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very pretty walk with La Chapelle and the tower as the highlight. The descent is a bit challenging but easily manageable. The path that takes us off the GR was not cleared when we passed through. We had to go around via the road

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agnesmamangâteau

25 Aug 2022 at 17:32 7200

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 11, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very beautiful hike with just a short stretch of road to climb. The descent after Rochegude is very steep (even though it is the GR and the St Jacques trail). Not recommended in rainy weather.

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tchoune63

30 May 2022 at 10:29 7200

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 30, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Be careful in Rochegude: when you take the path downhill, there is a vicious dog that attacked ours for no reason. It is at the house under construction on the right side of the path, running loose!

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phil.renauld

18 Aug 2021 at 16:35 7200

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 10, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

we combined the Rochegude Chapel circuit with the Treuil Cave circuit, a very beautiful route, except for the 600 metres on the main road (Monistrol > St Privas) which requires caution. 11 km and 635 metres of elevation gain.
magnificent views, I highly recommend it.

water and dry toilets available at the Rochegude site

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kutya

20 Jul 2020 at 11:39 7200

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 20, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very easy walk through magnificent scenery. The Rochegude chapel is splendid. The only downside is the stretch along the road (fortunately not very busy) at the end, which is not very pleasant when it is very hot.
However, the description, which is unnecessarily complicated, could be simplified as follows:

Follow the GR from the town hall car park, starting on the road towards Nolhac (road sign), to Pratclaux via Rochegude.
At Pratclaux, leave the GR by taking the first dirt track on the left, at a slightly acute angle, which leads towards the high-voltage power lines. Cross the road and turn left at each intersection. Finally, rejoin the road and follow it to find the GR, which leads back to the village of St Privat.

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Chazinho48

10 Feb 2020 at 18:05 3600

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 10, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very pleasant hike with beautiful views of the Allier Gorges. We finished with a quick visit to the St-Privat promontory. A great afternoon.
A little bonus: four goats grazing at La Chapelle de Rochegude, which let us approach them without any fuss.

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henri57

22 Jul 2019 at 19:02 7200

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to give your opinion.

By "route on map", we mean assessing how accurately the route shown on the map corresponds to the actual terrain.

You noted: Reliability of the route on the map: Average, and also wrote "The route is reliable". Isn't that a bit contradictory?

See you soon

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GB63

22 Jul 2019 at 16:47 7200

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 22, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A beautiful site to explore. The route is reliable despite a difficult start and a somewhat dangerous descent on one section. A lovely hike.

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yv5954

20 Aug 2018 at 09:25 7200

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 20, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

the route is tricky in one or two areas, especially if you have children with you
I think calling it easy is a bit of a stretch

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DanielFR

19 Aug 2018 at 10:13 7200

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 19, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A good, easy and very pleasant route.
The Rochegude site is worth a look!

However:
- we couldn't find the starting point car park, which isn't signposted in St Privat, so we parked at the exit on the road to Nolhac; it would be better to indicate that you should park "in front of the Town Hall"
- there may be a little too much tarmac
- the descent from Rochegude is steep, so be careful if it rains!
- the first path on the left in Pratclaux was overgrown with vegetation, so we took a detour via the road

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maminette52

14 May 2018 at 10:20 7200

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 22, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Well-marked and very pleasant route despite a steep descent into the woods, with no other difficulties.

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Author

MALRIF
47 Walks

Visorando member

District: Le Puy-en-Velay (43000)

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