Margeride (; in

Auvergnat (; ) or (endonym: ) is a northern dialect of Occitan spoken in central and southern France, in particular in the former administrative region of Auvergne. Currently, research shows that there is not really a true Auvergnat dialect but rath ...

) is a mountainous region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, situated in the Massif Central, inside the ''

départements In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of

Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Canta ...

and

Lozère Lozère (; ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the ...

Toponymy

Originally, the name "Margeride" applied only to a seigneury whose castle was ruined in the 15th century and a forest culminating at altitude. Its current name is thought to derive from the Gallic word ''morgarita'', composed of ''morga'' meaning "ford, boundary" and -''ritu'' for "ford". In

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

, Margeride is called ''Marjarida''.

Geography

In Cantal, its western boundary is the

Truyère The Truyère () is a river in south-western France, right tributary of the Lot (river), Lot. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, north of Mende, Lozère, Mende. It flows generally west through the following ''département in France ...

, and its eastern boundary, in Haute-Loire, by the gorges of the river

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

. To the south, in Lozère, It is the Lot which delimits the region.

Geology

The

lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

of area is manly

granitoid A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

s and

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

. The highest peaks are the

Signal de Randon The Signal de Randon is the highest summit of Margeride in the Massif Central, France. Etymology Its name comes from the Gallic randa "limits" and the suffix on. In fact, the summit is on the boundary between the archpriestrics of Saugues a ...

at 1,551 metres and the

Mont Mouchet Mont Mouchet () is a mountain located on the border of the France, French départements of Cantal, Haute-Loire and Lozère. It is famous for the historical events which took place there, notably during the Second World War where it hosted a group ...

at 1,465 metres.

Hydrography

The watershed separating the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

basin and the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

basin crosses the Margeride. The tributaries of the

and the

Alagnon The Alagnon (; ), also spelled ''Allagnon'', is an river in south-central France. It is a left tributary of the river Allier. Its source is near the village of Laveissière, near the Plomb du Cantal in the Massif Central. The Alagnon flows gene ...

belong to the Loire basin, while the tributaries of the

and the Lot belong to that of the Garonne.

Mountains

The highest mountains and peaks of the Margeride are: *

, *

Truc de Fortunio The Truc de Fortunio is a summit of the Margeride, a natural region located mainly in Lozère, but also in Cantal and Haute-Loire. It is situated in the Lozère department, in the commune of Rieutort-de-Randon, near the and the Signal de Rando ...

, *

Moure de la Gardille The Moure de la Gardille is a summit of the Massif Central belonging to the Margeride mountains in Lozère. It is located near Mont Lozère. Geography Location The Moure de la Gardille is located near the Mercoire forest, facing the Montag ...

, *

Montagne du Goulet The Montagne du Goulet () is a peak located in the eastern part of the Lozère department, reaching an altitude of 1,497 meters and belonging to the Margeride massif. It is situated at the extreme north of the Cévennes National Park. Geography ...

, *

Roc de Fenestre The Roc de Fenestre () is a peak in the Margeride, a mountainous region of the Massif Central. It reaches an altitude of 1,489 meters in the Lozère department, in the municipality of La Panouse. A glazed lava Lava is molten or partiall ...

, *

Puech David Puech David is a summit in the Massif Central belonging to the Margeride mountains. Puech David is located on a ridge line approximately 2 km as the crow flies from the Signal de Randon, in the municipality of Monts-de-Randon in Lozère.''IGN ma ...

, * Peyre Plantade, *

Truc de la Garde The Truc de la Garde () is a summit in the Massif Central belonging to the Margeride mountains, bordering the French departments of Lozère and Haute-Loire. Toponymy ''Truc'' refers to a "large stone or rock" in Occitan language, Occitan. It is ...

, * Montchauvet, * Bec Signal, * Ranc de la Licheyre, * Montagne des Ducs, *

Truc du Chapelat The Truc du Chapelat () is a peak in the Massif Central, part of the Margeride mountains. Toponymy ''Truc'' refers to a "large stone or rock" in Occitan. It is also a geological feature defining a hillock, a height covered with moorland. As fo ...

, * Serre Haut, * Mont Grand, * Truc de Randon, * Timoneire, * Le Bessal, * Puech Pauliac, * Truc de Montchabrier, * Signal de Margeride,

Climate

The climate is cold but relatively dry; the

Mounts of Cantal The Mounts of Cantal (or Volcanoes of Cantal; ) are a mountainous massif in the mid-west of the Massif Central, France, made up of the remnants of the largest stratovolcano of Europe, which was formed from 13 million years ago and last erupted a ...

and

Aubrac Aubrac () is a volcanic and granitic plateau located in the south-central Massif Central of France. This region has been a member of the Natura 2000 network since August 2006. It straddles three ''départements'' (Cantal, Aveyron and Lozère) an ...

block precipitation coming from the west and provide Margeride with a relatively sheltered position. However, it remains harsh with a long period of snow cover and exhibits thermal characteristics similar to the climates of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The winds can be very strong and regularly sweep the ridges and plateaus. In winter, temperatures are comparable to those found in the Jura: for example, temperatures almost reached -30°C on March 1, 2005, in Saugues at only 900 meters above sea level.

Fauna and Flora

With diverse fauna and habitats, the Margeride is home to numerous mammal species such as

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es,

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

s, as well as

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and roe deer. The lakes and rivers in the northern part of Lozère also provide a habitat for

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

. The

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

can be found along the banks of the Truyère. Along the banks of certain streams, the

tufted loosestrife ''Lysimachia thyrsiflora'', the tufted loosestrife, is a plant in the genus ''Lysimachia''. It is native to large sections of the northern Northern Hemisphere, including Eurasia and North America. It often grows in marshes, shorelines of lakes an ...

(''Lysimachia thyrsiflora''), a plant native to central and boreal Europe, rare in France, grows. The vast peat bogs of Margeride harbor a flora typical of cold environments, almost unique in France, including species relics of the glaciations such as the rare

dwarf birch ''Betula nana'', the dwarf birch, is a species of birch in the family Betulaceae, found mainly in the tundra of the Arctic region. Description It is a monoecious, deciduous shrub growing up to high. The bark is non-peeling and shiny red-copper ...

(''Betula nana'') or the downy willow (''Salix lapponum''). One of the most interesting peat bogs is that of Lajo, not far from Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole.

History

The area was a stronghold of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was from here that the Resistance worked to delay German reinforcements travelling north after the

D-Day landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. Today the area contains a museum of

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, and a park with a herd of rare

European bison The European bison (: bison) (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bi ...

Tourism

Summer hiking is a great way to discover the massif. There are numerous trails, regularly signposted, and signs regularly indicating the time needed to cover the marked paths. Margeride is also a great place for

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

. Numerous cross-country and

enduro Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is ...

trails have been mapped out, suitable for all levels. A "Trail Margeride" area lets you discover part of the massif from Le Malzieu. In winter, cross-country skiing is possible on the trails of the Bouviers and Laubert-Plateau du Roy ski resorts.

References

External links

at France for Visitors

Subranges of the Massif Central Landforms of Haute-Loire Landforms of Lozère Landforms of Cantal Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain ranges of Occitania (administrative region) {{Languedoc-geo-stub