Montbrison was for centuries the capital of the Forez, the old county that occupies the upper Loire basin west of Lyon, and the town still carries itself with a certain dignity. Its great Gothic church, the Collégiale Notre-Dame-d'Espérance, rises above the rooftops, and just beside it stands La Diana, a medieval hall whose wooden vaulted ceiling is painted with hundreds of coats of arms of the noble families of the region. Few rooms in France give you such a direct sense of medieval heraldry.
The town sits at the meeting point of two very different landscapes. To the east stretches the Forez plain, flat and dotted with ponds, the course of the young Loire marked by trees. To the west rise the Monts du Forez, a long granite ridge climbing to the Hautes Chaumes, high, open moorland grazed by cattle in summer and buried in snow in winter, with views across half of central France.
The riding is excellent. Roads climb from Montbrison into the mountains in long, winding sections through pine and beech forest, and once you reach the high moors, the views open up dramatically. The road to the Col de la Croix de l'Homme Mort and the routes across the Hautes Chaumes towards Pierre-sur-Haute are among the best in the Massif Central. Surfaces vary, and winter closes the highest roads.
Montbrison is also the home of the fourme de Montbrison, a mild, creamy blue cheese with an orange rind, made in the surrounding mountains. Pick up a piece in town for a picnic with a view. Fuel, food and coffee are plentiful. For a photo, the climb into the mountains above the town gives a fine view over the Forez plain.