([Map, p. 46].)
Le Puy, 2045 ft., to Langogne, 2940 ft. above the sea, 26 m. S. by coach, along an admirably-constructed road, over a high, cold, treeless tableland, whose culminating point, 3900 ft., is about a mile south from the hamlet of La Sauvetat, 6 m. N. from Pradelles. 8 m. from Le Puy is Montagnac, on the Cagne, 3123 ft. From this hamlet a road diverges 8 m. S.W. to Cayres, 3727 ft. above the sea, pop. 1450. Inn: Du-Lac-du-Bouchet. A lace and cheese-making village, about 1½ m. by a good road from the extinct crater of [Le Bouchet], 231 ft. higher, than Cayres, now a lake of 222 acres and 92 ft. deep. It is very similar to Lake Issarlès, near [Beage] (which see p. 85). After Montagnac the coach arrives at Costaros, 3510 ft., 12 m. S., where the horses are changed. Then Sauvetat, 16 m. from Le Puy, pop. 300, and afterwards [Pradelles], 3771 ft., pop. 2000, with two small inns, 21 m. from Le Puy and 5 m. from Langogne. The coach stops at Langogne railway station, where the omnibus of the Cheval Blanc
awaits passengers. Pradelles is 24½ m. S. from Le Monastier by St. Paul-de-Tartas, and 2½ m. from Les Sallettes (see [map, p. 46]).
[Pradelles to Mayres], 18 m. S.E., char-à-banc, 20 to 25 frs., by a good but a high and exposed road, passing [Peyrebelle] (p. 95), La Narce, 8¾ m., pop. 900, the Col Chavade, 4170 ft. above the sea, near the source of the Ardèche, whence the road descends rapidly, passing above the hamlet of Astet. This is not a good entrance into Ardèche.
From Le Puy a coach starts daily from near the post office for St. Bonnet, Usson, and Craponne, pop. 4000, directly N. from Le Puy, and 12½ m. E. from Chaise-Dieu by stage-coach.
[ LE PUY TO LANGEAC BY ST. GEORGES.]
([Map, p. 46].)
For geological excursions the railway between Le Puy to [Langeac] by St. Georges d’Aurac is very useful. The culminating point of the line, 3658 ft, is in the tunnel between Darsac and Fix-St. Geneys. This railway crosses at right angles the Velay mountains, full of extinct volcanoes, extending from Chaise-Dieu to Pradelles.
Espaly. Borne. Darsac.
Le Puy to Langeac, 36½ m. W. by rail. The first part of the line traverses a most picturesque country among great basaltic cliffs. 1 m. from Le Puy the train passes the village of [Espaly], and by the face of basaltic columns rising from the Borne and its little affluent the Riou-Pézeliou, in whose bed zircons and blue sapphires have been found. On the opposite side of the Borne is the great mass of basalt called the Croix de la Paille, with a display of prisms in three tiers, called les orgues d’Espaly. The village, pop. 2300, is built at the foot of a rock of volcanic breccia crowned by the scanty ruins of a castle built in 1260 by Guillaume de la Roue, bishop of Puy.