Back on the Trail - June 12, 2011

Well, it has been a while, I have been quite busy completing all of my classwork for the masters degree, but that is now done, and I will soon begin the internship.  In the interim, we are taking it easy and trying to get out to enjoy the country. Today we took a 3 hour hike in the hills around Clermont Ferrand.  Here is the story:
Took the tram from Carmes to Croix de Neyrat, then switched to the #3 bus to the terminus at CHU Nord (hospital).  Then we began the walk uphill to Chateaugay on the paved road D21.  


Chateaugay is a wonderful small town with a couple of nice restaurants overlooking the valley below, and a 12th century chateau.  It is also a wine producing area and has many wine caves in the hill sides.  Here is a link to a satellite view of the area: http://maps.google.fr/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ch%C3%A2teaugay&aq=0&sll=46.75984,1.738281&sspn=7.963228,13.754883&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ch%C3%A2teaugay,+Puy-de-D%C3%B4me,+Auvergne&ll=45.861444,3.103037&spn=0.031619,0.051155&t=h&z=14   We started below the lower right corner of the map, went up the hill, and followed a trail around the right side of the highest part of the hill (hear the D2009). This is a view from Chateaugay of the hillsides with grapes and the valley below:

Valley below Chateaugay, France, near Clermont Ferrand

Here you see a typical farm style home of the area.  The photo on the right is a row of wine caves in the hillside.

Home in Chateaugay, France

Wine caves, Rue des Caves, Chateaugay, France

A couple of minutes later, we found the signpost, showing the way to Riom and the distance as 10.5 Km.  The photo below is Puy de Dome from the trail between Chateaugay and Riom.

Puy de Dome from the trail between Chateaugay and Riom, France

Here are several more photos showing how nice the trails are - they are marked with blazes to show which trail you are on, sometimes multiple trails follow one path for a ways.

In this next one, we walked under bees on a tree limb - not sure what happened, someone had hives just around the corner.  There were lots of fruit trees as well as grapes in the area.

After that we came to a clearing where another trail crossed our path and stopped for a snack, overlooking the town of Ménétrol and the Michelin tire test track.  Riom would be to the left.

Grape vines near the trail

Michelin test track

Looking for lunch on the trail

Soon we reached the end of the marked path near a paved road, then walked into Riom and found the trainstation.  The train home was 3.1 Euro per person for the 10 minute ride.  What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!