A land of volcanoes
Mountains, saps, guards and rocks offer a volcanic relief for an atypical hike. It will take 9 days to cover the 189 km of the GR®40 loop in the heart of Haute-Loire. You can also opt for its diagonal which passes through Puy-en-Velay. 61 km long and modeled on the route of the GR®3 and GR®302, it offers the possibility of setting off on 2 smaller loops (of 7 or 8 days) which run along the Loire.
On the heritage side, you will come across castles and Romanesque churches. On the landscape side, you will alternate between the national forests of Allègre, the lakes of Saint Front and Bouchet Saint-Nicolas, the green lentil fields of Puy-en-Velay, the wide open spaces with horses, fine fat cattle of the Mézenc or the sheep of the black breed of Velay.
The attraction for geology and volcanism is filled by the presence of basaltic, granitic or slag rocks. We flush out astonishing stones there: the phonolites. Typical of Auvergne, they are nicknamed the "singing stones" thanks to their attractive metallic sound.
