Puy de Dôme

With our first day of walking under our belt we were feeling confident about our second day — climbing puy de dôme, the highest extinct volcano in the region. Our confidence lasted just until we got our first glimpse of it.

Brian made lots of reassuring sounds, but things looked even more concerning as we got closer. In fairness though Brian never wavered, and that helped me commit to the climb, although it was already the hottest day of the year so far.

We’ve both learnt from past adventures that anything is possible, if you just take your time and put one foot in front of the other you will get there.

The walk began deceptively easy, with a slow rise and dappled shade.

Things soon became steeper, and the snacks started coming out.

We continued upward, and the walk got steeper. I was certainly grateful for my sticks.

With the extra height came the added bonus of better views, and they were at least some reward for all the work. However, the views appeared because the cover of the trees had disappeared, and the day was becoming very hot.

The walk is apparently achievable in an hour and a half, but we were soon that far in and still with a long climb ahead.

The shade of the forest was far behind us now, and the midday sun was beating down. I confess my mind was drifting and I was thinking about how I could get out of finishing the climb. But a little voice kept telling me “We’ll catch the funicular down”, so I knew going up had to be the best option.

As we passed people descending from the top they shared encouraging words “Les derniers mètres”, “pas loin”. It was all just enough to keep me going.

It may have eventually taken us two and a half hours, but true to our mantra we got there one step at a time, and the view from the top along the string of volcanoes was amazing.

We sat for a while to take in the landscape, and snack on the last of our lunch. And true to his word, Brian soon had us coming down again in a far more gentle manner.

One of the reasons I had wanted to come to the Auvergne was to climb puy de dôme, and I’m so glad we did it.