Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas

Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas
Commune
Monument on the Stevenson Trail
Location of Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas
Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas Show map of France Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 44°53′28″N 3°47′24″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Haute-Loire
Arrondissement	Le Puy-en-Velay
Canton	Velay volcanique
Government
• Mayor (2023–2026)	Alain Vidal[1]
Area ^1	19.31 km^2 (7.46 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	276
• Density	14/km^2 (37/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	43037 /43510
Elevation	1,118–1,301 m (3,668–4,268 ft) (avg. 1,228 m or 4,029 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Le Bouchet-Saint-Nicolas (French pronunciation: [lə buʃɛ sɛ̃ nikɔla]; Occitan: Lo Bochet de Sant Nicolàs) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.

Personalities

The author Robert Louis Stevenson stayed at an inn in the village on 22 September 1878, having failed to find the nearby Lac de Bouchet, and his visit (recorded in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes^[3]) is commemorated by a statue of the author and his donkey, Modestine. The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path following Stevenson's approximate route, runs through the village.^[4]

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	427	—
1975	369	−2.06%
1982	301	−2.87%
1990	246	−2.49%
1999	236	−0.46%
2009	233	−0.13%
2014	271	+3.07%
2020	280	+0.55%
Source: INSEE[5]

See also

• Lac du Bouchet
• Communes of the Haute-Loire department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 6 June 2023.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Robert Louis Stevenson [1879]. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes at Project Gutenberg
4. Castle, Alan (2007). The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (2nd ed.). Cicerone. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-1-85284-511-7.
5. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE