Saugues
The Vía Podiensis
Saugues is the first proper town you'll reach after Le Puy, and after two days of walking through hamlets with little more than a gite and a water tap, it feels like a metropolis. This small medieval market town sits at about 960 m on the edge of the Margeride plateau and has everything you need: grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants, a pharmacy, ATMs, and a post office.
The town is dominated by the Tour des Anglais, a square 13th-century keep that's the sole survivor of the medieval fortifications. It's named for the English mercenary companies that seized the town during the Hundred Years' War in 1362. At its base sits the Musee Fantastique de la Bete du Gevaudan, a wonderfully eccentric folk-art museum with hand-sculpted dioramas telling the story of the Beast. It's worth an hour of your time.
A statue of the Beast stands in the town center, instantly recognizable, and you'll see its likeness everywhere, on signs, menus, and souvenirs. Saugues has embraced its most famous legend thoroughly.
The Collegiale Saint-Medard is a multi-period church with a 12th-century Romanesque bell tower and porch, a Gothic choir and nave rebuilt in the 15th century, and an octagonal bell tower. Inside you'll find a 12th-century polychrome Virgin in Majesty and the remains of Saint Benilde Romancon, a Christian Brothers teacher who ran a school here from 1841 to 1862 and was canonized in 1967.
The Chapelle des Penitents, built in 1681, houses an 18th-century carved wooden retable and is one of the few remaining penitent chapels built exclusively for that purpose in the department.
Saugues is the last town of any size before Aumont-Aubrac, roughly 60 km to the south. Resupply here. Carry food for the next stretch, as there's nothing between Saugues and the Domaine du Sauvage.
This is your last chance to resupply before a long, remote stretch. There are no food shops between Saugues and the Domaine du Sauvage (roughly 20 km). The Margeride plateau ahead is exposed, sparsely populated, and can be bleak in bad weather. Carry food and plan your water.
Market day is Friday morning. On Holy Thursday evening, the Confraternity of White Penitents, founded in 1652, processes through the streets in hooded robes, barefoot, carrying the instruments of the Passion and chanting the Miserere. It's one of the most striking religious processions in France and draws significant crowds. In early August, the Festival Celte en Gevaudan brings Celtic music to the town.
Saugues grew under the authority of the Bishops of Mende and the Lords of Mercoeur during the 12th century. The region was heavily fortified, with over 30 castles counted in the wider area by the 14th century.
But Saugues is defined by the Beast of Gevaudan. Between 1764 and 1767, a creature, or creatures, terrorized the former province of Gevaudan, killing around 100 people and injuring nearly 300, mostly women and children. The attacks covered an area of roughly 90 by 80 km centered on the Margeride Mountains, with Saugues itself one of the primary zones of terror. Witnesses described an animal that was "extraordinary and very different from the wolves of this country," tawny with dark stripes, and larger than any wolf.
The attacks became a national sensation. King Louis XV sent professional hunters, including his personal gun-bearer, who killed a large wolf in 1765. The attacks continued. In June 1767, local hunter Jean Chastel shot the beast on the slopes of Mont Mouchet, not far from here. The mystery of what the creature actually was, wolf, hyena, wolf-dog hybrid, or something else, has never been definitively resolved.
From Saugues you cross the bridge over the Seuge river and climb gently through fields toward Le Pinet. The path follows a pleasant white track between prairies to La Clauze, at about 1,095 m. From La Clauze to Le Falzet, roughly 2 km, you'll follow a departmental road before returning to footpaths.
You're entering the Margeride, a high granite plateau that stretches for 60 km between 1,200 and 1,500 m. The landscape is austere and beautiful: open pastures bordered by stone walls, patches of forest, scattered granite boulders, and isolated hamlets. It feels remote, and it is. The next settlement of any size is days away.
Accommodation in Saugues.
| Gîte d´étape communal de Saugues 13€ 15 |
| Gîte à la ferme Martins et Itier 39**€ 26 |
|
| Centre d'hébergement La Margeride 20€ 40 |
|
| Gîte d´étape Le Chalet du Pèlerin 32-35**€ 6 |
Comments