The Route of the Beast of the Gevaudan

[newfydog]

Here's this years route:


Anyone who has done the Chemin from LePuy will be familiar with the Bete du Gevaudan, a monster wolf who ate 100 or so villagers from 1764-67. There are statues, memorials, even some museums throughout the region. The route overlaps with the LePuy route in places, and even goes backwards on it for a spell. It also overlaps with the Stevenson trail in places.

The lore of the Bete has been a hobby of ours since the first trip on the LePuy route. We leave by mt.bike from LePuy late May.

 

[Purky]

A friend of ours lived in this region, so we went to visit a couple of times and usually stayed for about a week. A fantastic place to be and walk. Obviously we learned the tale of the Beast of the Gevaudan, and soaked it up as folklore.
Until I went out one night to visit a neighbour of our friend who lived a few kilometers further. It was a full moon and dead quiet, and suddenly that story popped into my head. I think I finished that walk in record time.
If you are interested in the Beast, try to get a hold of the French movie 'Le pacte des loups' (2001).

 

[newfydog]

Does anyone know how the crowds are on the LePuy route these days? We did it years ago without booking ahead, but I fear we'll need to be more prepared now for those stages. The Stevenson trail towns filled right up in the spring.

 

[TMcA]

Can't give you anything concrete but here are my thoughts...

Late May departure...maybe the crowds will be thinning. Here are two ideas:

1) "Test the waters" and pulse the Tourist Bureau in Le Puy now and/or a few weeks before you arrive. They should be able to advise you if the lodging you'd like to use for your first few nights has vacancies.
2) Just reserve a couple of nights in advance and then speak with proprietors of the gîtes or chambres d'hôtes about the current level of traffic. If it's busy, you start reserving.

Bon chemin. (Hmm, you are biking. )

Tom

 

[newfydog]

I have a great book on the Bete, by a French guy who spent 30 years researching him. In the appendix, he lists all the known attacks, 157 of them. I put them all in Google Earth to see where they occurred, and have been modifying the route to go through more of the isolated little hamlets. Here's the view, along with the LePuy route so those that have done it can see where the Bete eats: