As far as scenery
goes this was the most spectacular day of
the walk. And it showed France at its best
in so many ways. We went from one good but
cheap hotel to another similar. The people
at the hotel in le Claux were far kinder
than they needed to be. And the weather was
superb!
We were so
impressed that we returned to the hotel in
2000 and had another meal. And we walked
from Pas de Peyrol to Puy de Peyre Arse.
And, on another day, walked from
Super-Lioran to Puy Griou. See
here.
The Diary
The Commentary
Got up, had breakfast,
went through the village to the shop where we
got some bread and fruit, packed and paid the
hotel. We got the hotel to phone a taxi but we
were told it would be an hour. So we waited.
While waiting I bought myself a T shirt -
Sapeurs et Pompiers de Le Claux - there won't
be many of that around the gym! And a coffee
and lemonade. Still no taxi. The hotel phoned
again - no taxi’s available! So one of the
women of the hotel drove us to Pas de Peyrol
in her own car for free! It was very good of
her and of the hotel.
Le Peyre Arse Hotel and
Restaurant is a modern and very comfortable
hotel. I hope to stay there again as it is in
a part of France I want to explore more. And
the staff were lovely.
At the Pas de Peyrol
(just below Puy Mary) I bought a disposable
camera for 55F - it takes 27 photos. If it
can’t take decent photos today (bright and
sunny) it won't take them any time. We went up
Puy Mary - there is a concrete path all the
way to the summit. Hordes of tourists but
lovely views. We started walking at 11 and got
to the top at 11:25.
Pas de Peyrol must be
on the route of every tour bus in the Cantal.
It is a superb place to stop with fantastic
views down the valleys which meet there. The
views are even better from the top of Puy
Mary.
Apparently Puy Mary
is named after a Roman governor of the
Auvergne - Marius, who converted the area to
Christianity in the third century.
We had intended to take
the (non-appearing) taxi to the Col de Serre
but, because we were so late in setting off we
asked our chauffeuse to take us to the Pas de
Peyrol. There was no shortage of cars at the
Pas. But few of the tourists went beyond the
Puy Mary summit.
We then set off for Puy
de Peyre Arse. It’s a difficult path - very
pebbly and steep, but route finding is easy -
especially in hot, bright, sunshine. We
negotiated the Breche de Rolland without
difficulty and, after lunch, got to Peyre Arse
about 2.
The Breche de Rolland
might be difficult in snow and ice, but in the
conditions we had it was no problem. You have
to use some handholds but if you can manage a
flight of stairs you can do the Breche! I
found walking down from Puy Mary more
difficult - I always thought I was about to
land on my bum!
Today was a beautiful
walk through some of the most spectacular
scenery of the holiday. And it was
complimented by some wonderful weather. Even
lower down, walking through the woods was a
delight - lots of pine smells.
We were rather tired and
decided to miss out Puy Griou. (In 2000 we
climbed Le Puy Griou - there are some pictures
here.) We went down to
Super Lioran, found the Tourist Office, who
told us where the hotels were and gave us a
train timetable. By 4:30 we had a room and we
were soon unpacked, washed and snoozing. We
ate in the hotel at 7:30 - very good - even
tomato ketchup for A’s steak and chips. We had
a walk around town afterwards, looked at the
crazy golf and so to bed.
Super Lioran is another
of the purpose built mountain resorts. Quite
busy in summer but it looks as if it would be
extremely busy in winter. I wish that skiing
resorts and facilities were not so assertive.
Photographs
There are more photographs
of this walk, taken in 2000,
here.
