Saugues

Saugues is a commune in the Haute-Loire department, situated on the Margeride plateau at an altitude of around 960 metres. The town has a medieval and early modern character, centred on the Tour des Anglais, a fourteenth-century tower built during the Hundred Years War that remains the most visible landmark in the town.

Saugues is historically associated with the Beast of Gevaudan, the wolf-like creature that terrorised the surrounding region between 1764 and 1767, killing over a hundred people and becoming one of the most notorious episodes in pre-Revolutionary French history.

For pilgrims on the Via Podiensis, Saugues is the main service town before the crossing of the Margeride and the climb toward the Aubrac plateau, and one of the more atmospheric stops on the Haute-Loire section.