In the Monts de la Madeleine, the hills between the Loire and the Allier, Saint-Just-en-Chevalet sits high on a ridge, a small village of granite houses where the main road from Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand once brought a steady stream of travellers. The motorway now runs to the south, and the village has returned to a quieter life, surrounded by forests, meadows and the occasional pond.
The landscape here is remote and green, with dense forests of fir, spruce and beech, especially in the Bois Noirs, the dark woods that cover the higher ground to the west. These forests once hid uranium mines, operated in the second half of the twentieth century, now closed and slowly being reclaimed by nature. The meadows are grazed by Charolais cattle, and in summer the air smells of hay and pine.
The riding is excellent, with roads that climb and descend through the forests and over the ridges, offering views over the Loire plain to the east and the mountains of Auvergne to the west. The old national road is wide and fast, with long curves, while the minor roads are narrower and twistier, with very little traffic. Surfaces vary, and in winter, snow and ice are possible at higher elevations. Fog is common in the valleys in autumn.
Saint-Just-en-Chevalet is small, so do not count on finding everything you need. Fuel is more reliably found in Roanne to the east or Thiers to the south-west, both larger towns with full services. Thiers, perched on a steep hillside, is the cutlery capital of France and worth a stop to see its knife workshops. Next, the road crosses towards the Chartreuse, a long day away across the Rhône valley.