Allier Gorges and the Beast of Gévaudan: Wild River, Rafts and a Monster
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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Gévaudan Beast Hunter
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300
XP
+100 France
= 400 total
2 days
Allier Gorges and the Beast of Gévaudan: Wild River, Rafts and a Monster
300 + 100 XP
Between 30 June 1764 and 19 June 1767 a canid, or several, killed somewhere between 88 and 124 people, mostly in what is now the Lozère but with the hunt and the ending here: Louis XV's arquebus-bearer shot a great wolf on the abbey lands at Les Chazes in 1765, and the peasant Jean Chastel shot the second animal at La Besseyre-Saint-Mary, six kilometres from Saugues, on 19 June 1767. Saugues tells the story in its Musée fantastique. Below the town the Allier, one of the last genuinely wild rivers in Europe, runs through gorges that only the railway and the rafts can follow, past the Benedictine abbey founded at Chanteuges on 28 August 936.
Required Activities
1
of 4
In the Musée fantastique at Saugues, find the first declared victim — Jeanne Boulet, fourteen, killed at Les Hubacs on 30 June 1764 and buried without sacraments, her burial record naming la bette féroce — and see how a local horror became European news when the post-war papers ran it as a serial
2
of 4
Raft or canoe the Allier from Monistrol-d'Allier with a local outfitter
3
of 4
Climb the calades of Chanteuges to the Benedictine abbey on the tip of its lava mesa at 540 m, above the meeting of the Desges and the Allier, then go down to the Conservatoire national du Saumon Sauvage in the village, which breeds and releases the Allier salmon — the fish with the longest migration in western Europe
4
of 4
Drive the six kilometres to La Besseyre-Saint-Mary, where Jean Chastel shot the second animal on 19 June 1767 and the killings stopped, and work out why the first wolf — shot by the king's arquebus-bearer in 1765, stuffed and shown off at Versailles — settled nothing
In the Musée fantastique at Saugues, find the first declared victim — Jeanne Boulet, fourteen, killed at Les Hubacs on 30 June 1764 and buried without sacraments, her burial record naming la bette féroce — and see how a local horror became European news when the post-war papers ran it as a serial
Raft or canoe the Allier from Monistrol-d'Allier with a local outfitter
Climb the calades of Chanteuges to the Benedictine abbey on the tip of its lava mesa at 540 m, above the meeting of the Desges and the Allier, then go down to the Conservatoire national du Saumon Sauvage in the village, which breeds and releases the Allier salmon — the fish with the longest migration in western Europe
Drive the six kilometres to La Besseyre-Saint-Mary, where Jean Chastel shot the second animal on 19 June 1767 and the killings stopped, and work out why the first wolf — shot by the king's arquebus-bearer in 1765, stuffed and shown off at Versailles — settled nothing
Before you go
The rafting season on the upper Allier follows the snowmelt and is strongest in spring; book with an outfitter at Monistrol-d'Allier, who will tell you what the Poutès dam upstream is releasing. Salmon fishing has been banned on the Allier since 1994, so the conservatory at Chanteuges, not a rod, is where you will see one.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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