La Clauze

La Clauze is a small locality on the Margeride plateau in the Haute-Loire department, on the Via Podiensis route between Saugues and Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole. The Margeride is a high granite massif with an elevation of around 1,000 to 1,200 metres, covered in rough pasture, pine forest, and exposed granite outcrops.

The crossing of the Margeride is one of the more solitary sections of the early Via Podiensis, with few services and the open plateau terrain giving the route a wild, exposed quality. Cattle and sheep graze the rough moorland, and the light on the granite has a bleached, expansive quality distinct from the enclosed valleys below.