|
We were up and out by 10
having paid 720F for 3 days dinner, bed and
breakfast for two - pretty good value. The day
was a mixture of cloud and sunshine, mostly
the former, and with a cool breeze
It took us 1½ hours
to get from the hostel to the summit of the
Puy de Sancy - a very hard slog. I found it a
lot harder than A. I, of course, had the
heavier burden; but he is getting very fit.
At the telepherique
station is a pains-taking exposition of the
difficulties of maintaining the mountain
environment in the face of the touristic
(especially skiing) pressures. Very French -
it looks like someone's Ph.D. transferred to a
series of notice boards. I wonder how many
tourists read the notice boards, turn round
and go back down the hill, chastened by what
they have read!
But certainly skiing,
and the services the skiers demand, make a
very great mess of the mountains. But at least
the French restrict skiing to certain parts of
the mountains. |
The hostel is in a very
good position for getting into the mountains,
but it is not a place of beauty. It seems
mainly geared towards skiing - I suspect that
is when it is really full. As it was, we had a
room with beds for seven, for just the two of
us. We had a friendly welcome and the most
economical stay of our trip. Well worth going
back to. |
|
It was misty at the top
with tantalising glimpses of where we will be
heading in the next few days. Also it was very
crowded. The weather was a lot better than
yesterday and the telepherique had been busy
for longer.
We had a snack and
set off for Super Besse. I was using the
Tourist Office map which is a simplification
of the IGN 1:25,000 and as a result we got
confused. I thought we were at Croix de
Seignavoux when we were really at Col du
Couhay and so corrected what was not a mistake
and took the wrong path (which wasn’t on the
map anyway). In all we lost an hour before we
were back to doing what we had been doing
anyway.
We saw some sheep -
apparently these hills were used as summer
pasture by the farmers in the neighbouring
lowlands. They would live in the hills during
the summer months and go back to the villages
in the autumn. A system known as transhumance |
The hills between Le
Mont Dore and Super Besse are crowded with
people. Most come up by telepherique from Mont
Dore and Super Besse and go down the same way.
We felt full of pride at having walked up. It
certainly takes a great deal of will-power to
forgo the easy way up.
Super Besse is an artificially created town.
There was nothing there before the government
said that it should exist. In summer most
people seem to be either day trippers, from
not very far away, or to have flats or holiday
homes in the place. Certainly very few of them
were in the hotels.
|
We got to Super Besse at
3 and quickly and easily got a hotel room,
rested showered, did a washing. Walked round
town, got A a pain au chocolat, and two slices
of pork for tomorrow.
Dined well at the hotel and so to bed. |
Super Besse gets its
name because it is above (super) Besse en
Chandesse, an old village a few miles away,
farther down the valley. |
