Le Puy Pariou via the Chemin des Gouris

Park in the large car park at the station/site house at the foot of the Puy de Dôme.

(S/E) Walk down from the car park towards the site house and, at the sign indicating the train timetable, turn left towards a white sign saying "Attention aux trains" (Beware of trains). With the site house and station on your right, cross the railway line (watch out for trains!), then a cattle grid, ignoring the path on the right. At the end of this small meadow, go through another cattle grid and continue straight ahead, ignoring another path on the right. Further on, you will come to a wide path, the Chemin des Gouris, at a signpost. Turn right.

(1) Immediately afterwards, ignore a path through the undergrowth on your left (return path) and continue straight ahead, ignoring the paths on your right.

(2) At the crossroads with another path, Chemin de la Roche Pertuisade (signpost "Chemin des Gouris"), continue straight ahead. Walk along the Golf des Volcans on your right before reaching another crossroads (direction signs).

(3) Turn left. Further on, ignore the path on the right and continue straight ahead uphill.

(4) At the next junction (signposted "Bruyères des Moines"), continue climbing to the left along the wide path until you reach a junction with several paths (signposts).

(5) Turn right to take the steps leading up to the summit of Puy Pariou. At the top, go around the crater on the right. Take the earthen steps down to the bottom of the crater, then climb back up and retrace your steps to the right for a few metres.

(6) At the signpost, take the path down to the left. Walk through the undergrowth towards the east, then north, west and north again on this unmarked but well-trodden path. This will take you to a path with a sign indicating "Puy de Pariou, 1.6km" in the direction you have just come from.

(7) Turn left onto this path which goes around Puy Pariou. First, head west with Puy Pariou on your left.

(8) Further on, in a more open area, ignore a path on the right and continue on the path that veers south-west. The path then veers south. Pass a signpost marked "Cliersou Nord" and continue straight ahead.

(9) At a sign announcing a summer grazing area, take a path on the right that soon turns westwards, climbing upwards.

In a more open area, you will see a wooden sign for "Sommet du Cliersou". Take the path on the right, which climbs very steeply, for a round trip to the Cliersou caves. You will arrive at the entrances to the first cave. Continue for a few metres to discover a second cave system, then climb to the top of the hill. Descend towards the caves (return sign) and then descend via the same path you took on the way up.

Continue straight ahead to climb a very loose black dirt path. Further on, the path flattens out and becomes easier. At the intersection with a path that climbs to the right towards the summit of Grand Knoll and a rough path to the left that climbs to the summit of Petit Knoll, continue straight ahead on the well-marked path that veers to the left to pass in front of the Petit Knoll caves.

Continue along the path. About 200 metres further on, at a crossroads of more or less well-marked paths, take the second path on the right, heading south-south-west. Further on, ignore the rough track that the path crosses and continue straight ahead, between the bushes, to quickly reach a path. Look for directional signs and the red and white markings of^{the GR®®441}. Continue to the left.

(11) About 400 metres further on, at the crossroads marked by a large post bearing the markings, leave the^GR®® on your right and continue straight ahead on the Chemin des Gravouses, following the yellow markings. Pass a buron (shepherd's hut) on your right, occupied in summer by a shepherd, and continue along this wide path which begins to descend. Further on, the path enters the beautiful Fontmagnie Forest, remaining very wide and descending.

(12) At the intersection (direction signs), leave the yellow markings and continue straight ahead, still on Chemin des Gravouses, which narrows and continues downhill into the forest. You will come to a path, Chemin des Gouris, which you took at the start of the route.

Turn right and then immediately left to return to the car park (S/E) via the same path you took on the way there.

Groups are not permitted on the Puys Pariou and Cliersou (I don't know how many hikers are required to form a group). Dogs must be kept on a leash.

This hike can be much more accessible and of medium difficulty if, at (6), you do not descend into the crater (less elevation gain) and, above all, if, at (10), you do not climb up to the caves (the paths used to ascend and descend are very steep).

Discover more hikes in this area with a description or the Visorando app here and more generally in the Puy-de-Dôme here

(S/E) You can take the Panoramique des Dôme train to the top of Puy de Dôme (viewpoint, restaurant, paragliding).

Between and , there is a beautiful viewpoint from the Cliersou caves. These caves, like those of Petit Knoll, are not natural. In the 2nd century, the Romans dug them out to extract blocks for the construction of the Temple of Mercury located at the summit of Puy de Dôme (currently undergoing restoration).

Between (6) and (7) and then between (12) and (13), there are beautiful forests with, in particular, beautiful beech and pine trees. The Chemin des Gravouses is majestic.

Soil erosion: volcanic regions have very distinctive soils that form on ash, the most common of which are called andosols. You will see an example of andosol on this route just after . In the Chaîne des Puys, the soils are young, very porous and can undergo significant movement. The subsoil consists of rocks such as pozzolan or domite (the term domite was coined by Von Bluch in 1806 to describe the rock of the Puy-de-Dôme). Pozzolans, formed directly by an accumulation of lava and projections, are loose. Areas rich in pozzolan are known as gravouses (Chemin des Gravouses used on this route). Domite is a massive but friable rock. These soils are very easily eroded. Wind, rain, freeze-thaw cycles and repeated trampling (by walkers, for example) destroy the topsoil and cause erosion gullies. Once the vegetation is destroyed, the andosol erodes or blows away as dust. The underlying pozzolans are completely unstable and flow down the slopes. The paths quickly become impassable. Walkers take parallel routes, which increases overall erosion. On some puys, such as Puy Pariou, here, or Puy de la Vache, colossal developments have been carried out to allow walkers access to these exceptional sites. The summit of Puy de Côme remains off-limits for the time being. The summits of the small puys Cliersou and Knoll are still accessible, provided you stay on the path, but groups of walkers are not allowed.