The historical heritage of Neussargues en Pinatelle

A small car park is available near the church in Chalinargues. You can also find a few parking spaces near the town hall, on the D23, to the north-east of the village.

(S/E) From the south side of Saint-Barthélémy Church, follow the road to the left of the church, which heads north-west. At the junction between the D23 and D39, take the D23 to the right for about 60 metres. Look out for the logo in the shape of a chess rook, which marks the “Sentier des Vieilles Pierres” trail; you’ll be following this signposting throughout the route. Turn left at the first street, and carry on straight ahead along the path that continues from there until you reach the D39. Continue along the verge of this quiet road for about 500 metres.

(1) Turn right onto a path that winds through the meadows. At the junction with a small road, carry on straight ahead. You’ll come to a small road in the hamlet of Mons, near a small cross on your left (you can buy cheese from a farmer on your left).

(2) Turn right, then immediately left to see the beautiful Croix de Mons, dating from the 15th century. Next to the cross, you’ll notice an old shoeing stand, which was used to lift large animals, such as oxen, in order to shoe them or treat them. Walk round the back of the cross, then turn right to reach the watering troughs. Walk alongside them, then continue along the path opposite, heading east-southeast.

(3) When the path bends to the right, carry on straight ahead along a narrower track. You’ll reach the edge of the plateau, facing the Rocher de Laval, and follow the path as it turns right, winding down towards Moissac.

(4) At Moissac Castle, turn left, cross the disused railway line and carry on straight towards the church to find the communal oven, which is in perfect condition and still in use. Continue along Rue du Four then turn left to visit the beautiful church with its comb-shaped bell tower (12th century). This “privileged altar” is visited by pilgrims on the Way of St James. Inside, standing just to the right of the door, you’ll notice an ancient pilgrim’s gravestone. You can climb a few steps on the outside of the bell tower. On leaving the church, continue south for a few metres to reach the D23.

(5) Shortly afterwards, on leaving the village, look out for a stone shelter on your left, housing Carolingian and Merovingian sarcophagi from the 6th and 7th centuries. Continue along the D23. Ignore a path on the right and then, about a hundred metres further on, take a small road also on the right.

(6) Cross the railway line via an elevated bridge and continue alongside the railway line on your left. Further on, the path veers away from the railway line and heads west.

(7) Ignore the small road on the left which leads down towards Neussargues. Further on, at a Fork in the road, keep right and you’ll arrive directly opposite the Prehistoric Caves of Cuzers. A flight of steps on the right-hand side of the path leads up to the caves via a narrow track. These caves are in fact rock shelters used by prehistoric hunters. Back on the path, keep to the right and, further on, you’ll enter the Bois du Cheylat. In this woodland, be sure to follow the signposts.

(8) A sign indicates that you are on a medieval path. And indeed, this beautiful, sunken path, lined with moss-covered stones, looks very old. You’ll come to a track; follow it to the right (sign for ‘Waterfall’). At the next junction, carry on straight ahead. At each junction, follow the signposts marked with the chess tower logo or the “Sentiers des Vielles Pierres” signs. At the next junction – the only one where there are no signposts – ignore the path leading off to the right and back. Just after that, at the edge of a meadow, at the fork in the road, the left and right paths rejoin further on. Shortly afterwards, a sign points towards the “waterfall (15 mins round trip)” on the left.

(9) Go down a few steps and along a path to a picnic area, from where you can already see the waterfall above. Then climb the steps to the foot of this beautiful waterfall. Return to the previous junction.

(9) Continue to the left, still within the Bois du Cheylat. On your right, you’ll find a sign pointing to the medieval tower (which probably inspired the logo on this walk’s signposts), the ruins of which can be seen a few metres away. Leave the woods and you’ll come out onto the D40. Follow it to the right for about 300 metres.

(10) At the path branching off to the right, signs indicate that, about a hundred metres further along the D40, there are clusters of burial mounds in a field just to the left of the road.

(10) On the way back, continue along the track and, at the next junction, turn left towards Freissinet. At the Fork in the road in the hamlet, turn right to rejoin the D40. You’ll notice a very beautiful wash house on your right, a few metres from the road. Follow the D40 (a quiet road) to the right for about 300 metres.

(11) At the cross, take the path on the left. At the junction with a small road, carry on straight ahead.

(12) At the junction with the D39, carry on straight ahead. You’ll come to a small road; follow it to the right until you reach the D23 at the entrance to Chalinargues. Follow this road to the right, towards the village. Walk past a wash house and you’ll reach the junction between the D23 and the D39. Carry on along the small road straight ahead to reach the church (S/E).

Moderate difficulty hike, standard hiking equipment required.

Thanks to the Pays de Murat community of communes for the quality of the signposting on this route.

Discover more walks in this area, complete with descriptions or via the Visorando app, here

The new commune of Neussargues-en-Pinatelle comprises several villages, including Chalinargues, Mons, Moissac and Freissinet, through which this route passes.

(S/E) The village of Chalinargues and St Bartholomew’s Church, with its 12th-century comb-shaped bell tower, which is a ‘privileged altar’ on the Way of St James.

Although the first and last few kilometres of this route are a little monotonous, there is plenty to discover between (2) and (11): In Mons, the monumental basalt cross, the blacksmith’s anvil and the drinking troughs.
In Moissac: the castle, the communal oven, the church, the sarcophagi, the prehistoric rock shelters, the waterfall and the Freissinet wash house.

(4) The volcanic range of the Monts du Cantal forms the largest stratovolcano in Europe. Eruptive phases occurred between 9 million years ago and 10,000 years ago. The Cantal volcano forms a star-shaped complex, with each arm representing a ‘planèze’ – immense, straight-edged plateaus resulting from the flow of fluid basaltic lava, separating two valleys. The Rocher de Laval is a ledge on the Saint-Flour planèze, exposed by erosion.

(6) The sarcophagus was a very common form of burial during the Early Middle Ages and was always associated with a place of worship. They fell out of use by the end of the Romanesque period. The sarcophagi of Moissac date from the 8th and 9th centuries.

(8) Rock shelters were used seasonally, as hunting rest stops, by reindeer hunters of the Upper Palaeolithic period (35,000 to 9,000 years ago), who were Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers. They did not use metals to make their tools, but rather stones – mainly flint – and organic materials such as bones, reindeer antlers and ivory.

(10) The burial mound is a funerary structure dating from the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. The cremated remains of the deceased were placed directly on the ground, or in a coffin, beneath a mound of earth surrounded by a circular ditch. Here, the eroded summit has more or less filled in the ditch.