Auvergne — Hiking in the French Highland (Part II)

Welcome to the second part of our Auvergne adventure. The weather continued to pamper us.

Day 7: Orcival and La Roche Branlante

We were on our way to Mont-Dore and Puy-de -Sancy, when we decided to visit the little idyllic, albeit very touristy, town of Orcival we had seen a couple of days earlier. There was not that much to see in the town itself, so we headed to the tourist office for ideas of nearby hiking trails. We were given too options, one to La Roche Branlante and another to the nearby forest. We chose the first one, because we had no idea (then) what it was, but it sounded more interesting. Actually it is a rock sitting on top of another rock that has been subject to erosion.

The hike traversed predominantly agricultural landscape.

La Roche Branlante. Legend has it that the rock can be made to rock (sic!) by human force.

Largre birds gathered above us when we were having lunch at the rock.

Day 8: Volvic and Châtel-Guyon

Since this was the day when we moved between apartments, we decided to visit a couple of nearby towns. First we drove to Volvic, the home of mineral water brand with the same name, and climbed to Notre-Dame de la Garde. The climb was almost a hike, since the trail turned quickly steep and rocky. Coming down the same way would have been tricky in sandals, but we found a more comfortable path to Château de Tournoël. Again for our misfortune the castle closed just when we got there and wouldn’t have reopened for an hour, so we returned to the town. Next we drove to Châtel-Guyon, a thermal bath town that was preparing for Le Tour de France in September. The place reminded us of the spa town French Lick in Southern Indiana, and particularly West Baden Springs hotel even if the hotels in Châtel-Guyon were not even close as majestic.

Châtel-Guyon was preparing for the upcoming Le Tour de France in September 2020.

A lot of construction to be finished in just two months.

Day 9: Tour of Puy-de-Mercoeur

This walk or hike did not take us to the top of a volcano but rather around one. It started from the village of Laschamps, and first traversed a dry pine forest before moving to flat agricultural land. This was relatively easy hike, the only “challenging” part being the climb to the pass between Puy-de- Mercoeur and Puy-de-Lassolas (1126m) (remember: the climb to Puy-de-Lassolas few days before was really tough one).

There was drinking water tap next to the church in Beaune-le-Chaud.

Day 10: Puy-de-Sancy (1886m), Puy-des-Crebasses (1762m), and Château de Murol

This day is divided in two: first the hike on Mont-Dore and then the visit to Château de Murol, which we found accidentally as we took a wrong turn following the car’s GPS.

To climb Puy-de-Sancy, the highest peak in the Massif Central, we took the cable car to about 1750 meters. We started the stairs up to the summit, but when the stairs got significantly steeper, they also got very crowded: they were barely one meter wide and there was traffic to both directions. So we turned back down, and took another trail (GR4) North. We walked up to Puy-de-Crebasses, had lunch salad there, and then returned all the way down to the bottom cable car station at 1325 meters..

The summit of Puy-de-Sancy and the stairs leading there.

The view to La Banne d’Ordance (right there in the middle of the picture).

The other slope to summit Puy-de-Sancy. Equally crowded as the stairs.

Chairlift down to the Mont-Dore ski station.

For the very final descent we took a shortcut through forest on a trail with more gradual grade than the ski slopes. We found several stones with mermaid figures carved on them.

When driving back to Clermont-Ferrand we saw this strange, bunker like building on the top of a hill. We stopped to finish our lunch sandwiches at a rest area where a tourist information board told it is a medieval castle dating from the 12th century. We decided to take a closer look, and drove to the top. And there decided to visit the castle itself, since free visits were available (that’s not always the case; in some places the only way is to join a guided tour).

Queuing up for the access indoors the castle.

There was a play or demontration going on.

We wonder what function this hole had quite high up in the outer wall of the castle.

The play went on and on … and these two characters kept yelling at each other.

Day 11: Valley of Saints and Usson

It was time to go home, but our Auvergne adventure was not finished yet. We had two destinations to visit on our way, Boudes and Usson. Boudes was the starting place for the hike to La Vallée des Saints and Usson is known for its volcanic hexagonal columns that resemble pipes of organs.

La source romaine de Bard: a salt water spring that was recovered in 1882. From the bottom of the spring was found 67 Roman bronze coins from 1st to 3rd century AD.

The walk to the organs in Usson started uphill, like pretty much every walk or hike on this vacation. On our way up we observed some interesting details in this pretty town; this village has been nominated as one of the most beautiful villages in France.