Walking in the Auvergne

42 Walks in the Massif Central - France's volcano region

By Rachel Crolla, Carl McKeating

ISBN

9781852846510

Availability

Published

13 May 2013

Reprinted

21 Jan 2020

Edition

First

Pages

256

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.40cm

Weight

280g

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Guidebook to the Auvergne describing 42 walks between 5 and 20km in the quiet volcanic hills of central France. Five areas are covered: Cantal, Chaine des Puys, Mont Dores, Haute-Loire and Montagne Bourbonnaise. The volcanic geography provides a stunning backdrop to routes suitable for all walkers. Bases in Vichy, Clermont-Ferrand and Puy-en-Velay.

Seasons

All the routes can be enjoyed from May to October. The summer months are usually hot and sunny, but the winters see snowbound villages and skiing on the higher Auvergne peaks

Centres

cities: Puy-en-Velay and Vichy; villages: Orcival for the Monts Dore and Dômes, Murat for the Cantal, Mayet-de-Montagne for the Bourbonnaise

Difficulty

Grade 1: Short easy walks with few navigational problems and little ascent; Grade 2: Walks that will not be taxing for a fit and experienced hiker. They may be longer, have moderate height gain or require good navigation skills; Grade 3: Challenging walks for experienced hikers. Steep terrain may be encountered with considerable ascents or longer mountain days

Must See

Fascinating volcanoes: Puy de Dôme, de la Vache and Pariou; high summits: Plomb du Cantal, Puy Mary and Puy de Sancy; magnificent abbeys and churches: Chaise Dieu, Lavaudieu and Orcival; chateaux: Montgilbert and Lavoûte-sur-Loire; attractive bases: Le Puy-en-Velay and Vichy; lakes Guery and Pavin, the Grand Cascade and Volvic spring

ISBN

9781852846510

Availability

Published

13 May 2013

Reprinted

21 Jan 2020

Edition

First

Pages

256

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.40cm

Weight

280g

Overview

This walking guidebook describes 42 day routes exploring the stunning Auvergne region in central France. The walks are ideal for day walkers and hikers, with routes ranging from easy 5km outings to more challenging 20km hikes. All are illustrated with clear mapping and colour photographs. The guide focuses on the best routes in five different areas, including Cantal, the Chaîne des Puys (Monts Dômes), the Monts Dore, the Haute Loire (Livradois and Velay) and the Montagne Bourbonnaise, with bases including Vichy, Clermont-Ferrand and Puy-en-Velay. The routes in this guidebook offer walking on truly spectacular volcanic landscape, with grassy domes and volcanic bowls and long, rambling ridges, yet the walking is generally suitable (nothing over 1,900m) for all walkers, and the area is both accessible and provides a wide range of cultural and historical (and geological) interest. The guidebook also provides a wide range of practical information for visiting the Auvergne, with accommodation transport, and preparation advice, as well as providing a wealth of detail on the many places of interest along the walks.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Overview map

Map key

Introduction

History

Volcanoes

Plants and wildlife

Food and drink

When to go

Getting there

Getting around

Accommodation

Difficulty

Equipment

Maps

Waymarking

Hazards and emergencies

Using this guide

1 The Cantal

Walk 1 Puy de Niermont

Walk 2 An Ascent of the Puy de Peyre Arse

Walk 3 Puy Mary with Optional Excursion to Puy de la Tourte

Walk 4 Traverse of the Brêche de Rolland from Puy Mary to Peyre Arse

Walk 5 Around Medieval Murat

Walk 6 The Plomb du Cantal

Walk 7 A Rombière Ramble

Walk 8 Puy Griou

Walk 9 Up the Usclade

Walk 10 The Elancèze

Walk 11 Puy Violent and the Shadow Rock

Walk 12 Roches Taillade and Roc d’Hoziéres

Walk 13 Circuit of Puy Chavaroche

Walk 14 St Cirgues de Jordanne A

Walk 15 St Cirgues de Jordanne B

2 The Châine des Puys (Monts Dômes)

Walk 16 Puy de Dôme

Walk 17 Puys Lassolas and de la Vache

Walk 18 Around Orcival

Walk 19 Puy des Gouttes

Walk 20 The Crater of Puy Pariou

Walk 21 The Water of Volvic

3 The Monts Dore

Walk 22 The Grand Horseshoe: Puy de Sancy from Mont-Dore

Walk 23 Up the Chaudefour Valley to Puys Sancy and Ferrand

Walk 24 Around Lake Pavin

Walk 25 Connecting the Cascades of Puy d’Angle

Walk 26 The Tuilière and Sanadoire rocks

Walk 27 A Tour of the Curiosities of St Nectaire

Walk 28 Lake Guéry and the Banne d’Ordanche

4 The Haute-Loire: Livradois Forez and Velay

Walk 29 Around Chaise-Dieu and the Senouire

Walk 30 The Gorges of the Loire

Walk 31 A Circuit of Allègre

Walk 32 Mont Bar from Allègre

Walk 33 Domeyrat and the Senouire

Walk 34 Vieille Brioude and the Ceroux

Walk 35 Lavaudieu Abbey and the Senouire

5 The Montagne Bourbonnaise

Walk 36 The Ruins of Montgilbert

Walk 37 Milling around the Mills

Walk 38 Around Châtel Montagne and the Puy de Roc

Walk 39 Rocher St Vincent

Walk 40 The Cascade de la Pisserote

Walk 41 The Plateau de la Verrerie and its Tourbière

Walk 42 Pierre Châtel from St Nicolas des Biefs

Appendix A Route summary table

Appendix B Glossary of French walking terms

Appendix C Further reading

Appendix D Useful contacts

Maps

Maps

For all but the Grade 1 walks in this guide a map is recommended. Maps will serve the hiker well in the Cantal, Châine des Puys and Monts Dore especially. Detailed topographical maps are available for all the areas covered. A Series Bleu IGN map at 1:25,000 incorporates the entire Cantal section, two cover the Châine des Puys and Massif du Sancy. The Montagne Bourbonnaise walks are mainly covered by the Mayet-de-Montagne map and the Haute-Loire by the Allegre/La Chaise Dieu maps. The full names of the IGN 1:25,000 sheets, if you are ordering online or by phone, are shown below.

1 The Cantal 2435OT Monts du Cantal 2 The Châine des Puys (Monts Dômes 2531ET Châine des Puys 3 The Monts Dore 2432ET Massif du Sancy 4 The Haute-Loire: Forez and Velay 2734O Allègre/La Chaise Dieu 2735E Le Puy en Velay 2634E Paulhaguet 2634O Brioude 5 The Montagne Bourbonnaise 2730O Mayet de Montagne 2729O Lapalisse 2730E St Just/Monts de la Madeleine

Each map is widely sold in the area which it covers but unlike in Britain it can be infuriating getting them elsewhere: you may, for example, encounter problems getting hold of a map of the Cantal from shops in the Monts Dore, despite being so nearby. Indeed, the authors spent an entire afternoon and failed to find a single shop selling maps of the Monts Dore in the major town of Vichy. Supermarkets, Hypermarkets and bookshops are usually a good bet for stocking maps of the wider region, but there are no guarantees. Tourist information offices and newsagents usually sell IGN maps of their near area. The IGN maps are available prior to departure in the UK from Amazon, Stamfords, the Map Shop and other good retailers on and offline.

A word of caution about the IGN maps of this region. Partially due to the lack of a rights of way system which we have in Britain, but also clearly as a result of some lazy mapping, some of the tracks and paths appearing on the 1:25,000 maps in the Auvergne do not exist on the ground. They have probably fallen into disuse, but in some instances we have found ‘disuse’ to equate to decades of absence. Similarly, many other good and long-established paths on the ground are not marked at all on the maps. Added to this, the distinction between paved roads and tracks is often not made. We have tried to clear up this issue and others in our route descriptions.

Updates

November 2019

Route updates included in 2020 reprint

651 Reprint 2020 (275.465 KB)

September 2019

Route updates and corrections

Sept 2019

The map for Walk 16 - Puy de Dôme on p.103 has been rotated to be read in landscape form. It is therefore oriented to west, not north as mistakenly suggested in the book. All the other maps in the book are oriented correctly to north.

Aug 2017

The authors are grateful for the following suggested updates to Walking in the Auvergne:

Walk 41, page 232.
"Go straight across the road and up the left side of the café to find a path."
Can now read: "Go straight across the road and up the left side of the (new) community hall to find a path at the rear."

Walk 38, page 220.
As of 2017, disappointingly trees obstruct the view from the Puy de Roc making its observation table redundant. The trees may well be cut back in future.

Walk 40, page 227.
Route finding in the woods may prove a little challenging as you leave the valley floor on the obscure path opposite Le Moulin du Mas. It is helpful to keep in mind your position relative to the river, even after it goes out of sight. You should initially be heading in a roughly south westward and then westward direction before turning northeastwards on your descent to the river. The circular outing that extends the route is not a long one; if in any doubt about your route simply retrace your steps.

Reviews

Invaluable for the guidance it gives

My wife and I have recently spent eight days walking in the Auvergne and would like to commend this book. It’s well written (as you would expect of Bradfordians!) and invaluable for the guidance and signposting it gives.

Here is a picture of my wife proudly holding your book near the Madonna in Murat.

With best wishes

Martin H, by email.

Img 1942 2 (484.758 KB)

'Walking in the Auvergne by Rachel Crolla and Carl McKeating is a comprehensive guide to this fascinating and beautiful region and is up to the usual high standard of Cicerone guidebooks. The authors have clearly spent a lot of time exploring the Auvergne’s mountains, valleys and villages and there is a wealth of background information on each part of the region as well as maps, photographs and detailed information on each of the 42 walks described.

A must for any walker planning to visit the Auvergne.'

Read the full review.

Pete Buckley, petebuckely.wordpress.com, July 2013

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Rachel Crolla

Rachel Crolla is an outdoors all-rounder who loves hiking, biking, scrambling and climbing. Rachel is an outdoors writer and photographer who is also trained as a journalist and teacher. She has hiked and climbed across the UK, Europe and the USA. In 2007 Rachel became the first woman to reach the summit of every country in Europe, and co-wrote the Cicerone guide book Europe’s High Points soon afterwards. She is passionate about enthusing the next generation of hikers and cyclists with a love of the outdoors.

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Carl McKeating

Carl McKeating is from Yorkshire. He is the co-author with Rachel Crolla of the books, Europe’s High Points and Walking in the Auvergne published by Cicerone. A rock climbing and mountaineering enthusiast, in addition to ascending all of Europe’s national high points, in 2010 he completed a long-standing ambition to climb all the routes in Ken Wilson’s Classic Rock which he followed with a three-month climbing and mountaineering tour of America. A qualified English teacher, in 2014 Carl started work on a doctorate about Mont Blanc in British Culture.

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