Too bad for the poets and the naive, but the Loire is not “the last wild river in Europe”: its course and its basin have long been the subject of development, very varied works for navigation , leisure, storage of domestic or industrial water, hydroelectric production... But the environmental movements of the 70s and 80s overcame several of these dams erected during the Glorious Thirties and today only two are built directly on its course.
To discover
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So, unlike its otherwise corseted French or European cousins, the Loire still looks like a rebellious teenager.
In its early days, the Loire was not yet this languid river that peacefully rolls its waves at the foot of Renaissance castles.
Still intrepid, it makes its way through the granite for nearly 100 km before the Grangent dam comes to calm its ardor a little at the height of Saint-Etienne.
Here, the rugged relief is at the origin of a beautiful mosaic of environments, carpets of lawns in rocky areas, steep cliffs, hay or grazed meadows, moors, valleys and forests... as many natural environments as it took protected by a reserve of 355 hectares and that this small loop of 5 km proposes to visit.
Read the fileHiking: itineraries, advice... Our guide
Hiking in practice: the
Gorges de la Loire reserve
Very easy > 5 km > 1 h 40 > +160 m/-160 m > Yellow markup n°5 > GPS starting point: 45.457547 / 4.263240
IGN Map No. 2833SB - Firminy/Saint-Bonnet-Le-Château
Departure: from the car park of the Maison de la Réserve des Gorges de la Loire in Condamine, 12 km west of Saint-Etienne by the D3 and D25.
Description: Hike n°5 of the TopoGuide Ref P425 The Gorges de la Loire... on foot
Departure from the Maison de la Réserve des Gorges de la Loire
Peaceful waters.
Christophe Migeon / Le Figaro
When the Grangent dam was completely filled with water in 1958, the Loire prevented from overflowing and stormed the hills.
Hotel, bistro, bridges, power plant, station and railway, farms, villas... a good part of Saint Victor as well as three or four surrounding hamlets disappear forever under water.
On the surface, the wild river suddenly tamed, expands and then lends itself to nautical activities.
A marina and a so-called "Stéphanois" beach were created in the early 1970s and a decade later, real estate developers who were never outdone put on the table a gigantic project of 400 pavilions on the right bank. of the new lake.
The Gorges de la Loire regional nature reserve put an end to this urban planning delirium in 1988.
The loop starts in front of the house of the reserve north of the village of La Condamine and takes the PR n ° 5, precisely where terraces and swimming pools almost appeared.
A moor with broom and its rocky snags eaten away by lichens velvets the whole top of the hillside.
Opposite, on a granite spur rising from the left bank, the castle of Essalois flanked by its crenellated towers seems to have come out of a child's drawing.
Below, licked by the waters of the lake, the former Camaldolese hermitage, today private property, still displays a Thebaid serenity.
Steps
Grangent, a castle with its feet in the water.
Postcard landscapes.
Christophe Migeon / Le Figaro
As the path continues towards the north, the gaze is drawn to the island of Grangent and its castle, which is also private.
Old postcards show it perched on a vertiginous promontory, 60 meters above the river and remind how the gorges were a strategic axis of passage between Forez and Velay.
With the dam, the eagle's nest has been transformed into a footbath.
The perched knight now has his feet in the water.
“It only lasts for a while”, underlines Aurélien Delorme who rents electric boats on the lake, “EDF is required to maintain the water level at the maximum from June 1 to September 15 for nautical activities, after, the surface can descend more than six meters thus revealing the top of the bridges and sunken houses".
Going up the Grangent
The varieties of fauna and flora amaze.
Christophe Migeon / Le Figaro
The path ends up turning its back on the river and goes up the thin silver thread of the Grangent stream lined with beeches and hornbeams before rising gently towards the starting point.
In addition to the diversity due to the relief, the gorges are located at the meeting point of three climatic influences - continental, oceanic and Mediterranean - and give rise to an exceptional biodiversity.
Over a distance of 200 metres, it is possible to switch from mountain plant species such as beech to Atlantic-type species such as dwarf gorse or even southern species such as serviceberry and Montpellier maple.
Now that the gaze bordered by the foliage is no longer captivated by the panorama, the eyes search the landscape in search of representatives of different environments.
The walk is completed in less than two hours.
This leaves plenty of time to go to Saint-Victor to spread out your towel on the sand of the beach...
Travelogue
Or sleep
4M garden.
Converted into guest rooms in February 2019, this former family home in the Regional Natural Park of Pilat is the stronghold of the Bayarts, Mathieu and Marie for the parents, Margaux and Mathilde for the children.
So much for the 4 M. A sauna and a Nordic bath will comfort muscles sore from walking.
5 double rooms from €110 with breakfast.
Dinner is served in the old barn: starter-main course-dessert €31.
Tel: 06 63 94 66 85, www.jardindes4m.fr (38 km from the Maison de la Réserve)
Domaine de la Charpinière.
In Saint-Galmier, in the heart of a 3-hectare wooded park, a four-star hotel takes its ease around a century-old dovecote.
Double room from €132.
La Source, the Michelin-star gourmet restaurant offers a rhythmic tasting in 6, 8 or 10 stages, in the heart of a sensory walk with a view of the park.
From €64.50.
Tel: 04 77 52 75 00, www.lacharpiniere.com (40 km from the Maison de la Réserve)
To do in the region
Electric boat ride.
Christophe Migeon / Le Figaro
A stroll on the Loire.
Discover the wonders of Lake Grangent in silence from an electric boat.
This is possible by renting one of the small 5-seater boats (without a licence) from Aurélien Delorme.
From €45 per hour.
Open from early May to mid-October.
Tel: 06 71 69 82 86, www.nautismedelorme.com
A visit to the castle of Essalois.
If the castle of Grangent is private and forbidden to the curious, that of Essalois, perched since the 16th century on its rocky outcrop on the other side of the lake can be visited freely.
From one of the towers, there is a magnificent 360° panorama over the Loire gorges and the Plaine du Forez.
Guided tours for groups: information and booking Forez Tourisme 04 77 52 18 18. Annual closure from November to April.
For more information: Loire Tourisme, 04 77 43 59 14/17, www.loiretourisme.com
