Hiking in Chapelle Sainte-Foy de Conques: trails, map and practical info

The route, step by step

The loop starts and ends in the Faubourg of Conques, according to the Conques-Marcillac tourist office. It follows these steps:

1. Join the GR 65 (white and red waymarks) and cross the Dourdou on the pilgrims' bridge.
2. Take the D 232. About 80 m after the second big bend, leave the road on a path to the right that leads onto the ridge through woods. The office mentions a view over the village of Conques.
3. At the shed, go through the electric fence gate and close it behind you. The hamlet of "Les Angles" stays on your left. Follow the road, pass near the hamlet of "Aujols" and reach a junction of roads and tracks.
4. Turn left onto the GR (white and red waymarks), then keep following the GR as it bears left. The descent runs through heather and broom to the Sainte-Foy chapel.
5. At the chapel, keep descending towards the Dourdou on the GR 65 and come back to the bridge you crossed on the way out.

Distance, elevation and time

The tourist office gives 5.8 km, 345 m of elevation gain and 2 h 15 in its PDF sheet, with a minimum altitude of 221 m and a maximum of 546 m; the waymarking is listed as "PR". The GPX track it offers measures about 5.8 km. Tourisme Aveyron and Tourisme Occitanie give 7.5 km and 360 m of elevation for the same hike, with the same duration and difficulty, and the office's "Randonnées" page also says 7.5 km.

Before you go

• Start: Faubourg de Conques, beside the D 901 towards Grand-Vabre, according to Tourisme Occitanie. The office gives access by the D 901.
• Parking: the office recommends the Faubourg car park. No fee is published.
• Waymarking: the office says "PR" and describes the stretch on the GR 65 (white and red). Tourisme Occitanie says yellow waymarks.
• Electric fence gate: the office describes one at the shed and asks you to close it behind you.
• Dogs: no rule is published for this loop. Call the tourist office at +33 5 65 72 85 00.
• Without a car: Tourisme Occitanie points to bus line 223 Rodez-Conques and places Conques 38 km north-west of Rodez on the D 901.

Walking up to the village

The office says you can climb from the Faubourg by the rue Charlemagne to the village (300 m) to see the abbey church, the cloister, the treasury and the village: 1 km round trip.

A little background

Tourisme Aveyron notes that the history of Conques goes back at least to the 8th century, when the hermit Dadon withdrew there; he is the origin of a community of Benedictine monks. Two facts, it says, explain the abbey's influence: the arrival, around 866, of the relics of Saint Foy, a young martyr from Agen, and, from the 11th century, its role as a major stage on the Le Puy-en-Velay route to Santiago de Compostela.

The tourist office adds that the pilgrims' bridge over the Dourdou has been listed since 1998, like the abbey church of Sainte-Foy, as a UNESCO World Heritage site under the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. Tourisme Occitanie offers the Sainte-Foy chapel loop for an afternoon and mentions viewpoints over the natural amphitheatre where Conques nestles.