Organs and the music of water at the foot of the Puy de Dôme

Leave your vehicle in the car park in front of the church and post office in Orcines. On the street side, look for an information sign for the Balirando "Le Puy de Montrodeix" hike. The hike suggested here follows almost the entire route, which is marked in green, but not quite.

Green markings, lines and small^PR®® signs

(S/E) With your back to the post office, at the hiking sign, take the street on the left for a few metres, then turn right at the corner of the town hall (fountain-wash house). At the intersection opposite the private school, go a few metres to the right and then follow the street that branches off to the left. Ignore Chemin des Meuniers on the left, follow the bend in the street to the left and continue until you reach the D942.

(1) Cross carefully and continue straight ahead towards Le Cheix. At the first intersection, turn left down towards Place de l'Oche and the fountain-wash house, pass to the right of it and continue straight ahead. At the fork, take Chemin des Sables on the right, then leave it almost immediately at the next fork, keeping to the left. At the next fork in the road, shortly afterwards, keep to the right. You will arrive at a crossroads at the Le Cheix signpost.

(2) Turn left (the^GR®® markings are added to the green markings). At the crossroads of four paths, continue straight ahead. Arrive at Villars.

(3) Follow the street to the right (ignoring the^GR®® markings), cross a street to reach a covered fountain-wash house on Place de la Pierre Levée, then continue, passing a beautiful little Christianised menhir on your left, to enter Allée des Hirondelles. Further on, pass a fountain-wash house-watering trough on your left and continue straight ahead on a path. In the left-hand bend, ignore the path that branches off to the right, then, a few metres further on, turn onto the path on the right. Further on, ignore a hairpin bend to the left and you will come to a T-junction.

(4) Follow the path on the right, which runs alongside a farm. You will come to a road. Follow it carefully to the left to reach Fontanas.

No markings

Turn left onto Rue de la Cascade (note the house on the right that still houses cows on the ground floor). At the next intersection, continue straight ahead for a few metres to see the small waterfall that fed the village mills (continue a little further, off the route, to descend to the Tiretaine), then retrace your steps and turn left onto Rue de la Tiretaine, then right onto Rue du Tourne-Roue, which leads to a wider street, the one you left earlier.

(5) Continue a few metres to the left, then take the street on the right. Ignore a street on the left and pass a fountain-wash house on the right.

Yellow disc signpost

At the crossroads, look for a yellow marker and follow it straight ahead. You will come to the main road crossing La Font de l'Arbre. Follow it to the right, passing the La Font de l'Arbre Bel-Air marker, then turn left towards the fountain and wash house on Rue du Maréchal-Ferrand. Pass the fountain and turn right onto the small square to reach a T-junction with a street. On the right, you will see a fountain and a branch of the Tiretaine river passing under a house, as well as the signpost for La Font de l'Arbre Rue de la Combe.

(6) Turn left. Further on, ignore a street on the right. At the fork in the road, follow Rue de la Tour to the left. At the next intersection, turn left onto Rue de la Cote Folle. The tarmac disappears, ignore a path on the left, then arrive at a street. Cross and continue along Rue de la Cote Folle opposite. You will arrive at a crossroads in Montrodeix. On the right, you will see an iron cross mounted on a Roman milestone. Turn left, then right onto Rue des Fonts Vieilles to pass in front of the large fountain-wash house-watering place. Continue straight ahead to arrive at Place des Parsières, adorned with a large fountain-wash house.

Green markings, lines and small^PR®® signs

(7) Turn right onto the road that passes in front of the bus shelter and note the green markings again. Shortly afterwards, turn left onto Chemin de Châteaufort. You will come to an intersection with a path leading off to the right, just before a signpost.

No markings

(8) For a round trip, continue to the signpost and follow the direction of Puy de Montrodeix on the left. At the top, there is no view, but there are beautiful basalt columns. Retrace your steps, turn right at the signpost and walk a few metres.

Green markings, lines and small^PR®® signs

(8) Descend the path on the left and you will come to a small road opposite the power station.

No markings

For a round trip, turn left and walk about 50 metres to find a very pretty spring, which some consider to be the main source of the Tiretaine, converted into a fountain. Retrace your steps.

Green markings, lines and small^PR®® signs

Continue straight ahead on the road. At the crossroads of four roads, turn left to reach the Font de l'Arbre, ignore a street on the right and turn right at the T-junction. Reach a road, cross it and walk a few metres on the car park of the Village Auvergnat (sale of local products). Take a pozzolan path on the left towards the roundabout, go around it on the right, carefully crossing a road, and continue on the path that runs alongside the next road for about 50 metres.

(9) Turn right onto the path that starts at the corner of a high-voltage cabinet and continue, with the Puy de Dôme in your sights (weather permitting, of course).

(10) Just before crossing the Panoramique des Dômes railway line, turn right onto a path. At the T-junction, turn left and then, at the three-way junction, turn right.

(11) Continue straight ahead at the four-way junction, then turn onto the first path on the right. Further on, ignore a path on the left, then two on the right.

(12) At the next fork, keep left, then ignore a path on the left, then one on the right (which climbs up to a calvary with three crosses, a short detour off the route). At the T-junction, turn right and immediately pass three drinking troughs in a row. When you reach the village of Orcines, turn right onto the street that runs alongside the cemetery on your left, and you will find the car park near the church (S/E).

Hike of moderate difficulty, leaning towards easy. Standard hiking equipment.

Discover more hikes in this area with a description or the Visorando app here

Photo album here

On this route, you will see numerous fountains, often coupled with wash houses, and sometimes also with drinking troughs, a pretty spring at the foot of Puy de Montrodeix, a leat or water wheel that fed the mills of Fontanas, a small menhir and a Roman milestone, both recycled by the Church and adorned, respectively, with a beautiful ancient cross made of Volvic stone and a more traditional wrought iron cross, and basalt organ pipes, among the most beautiful in the Clermont area (which, it must be said, has few).