The Ceyssat tanks via the solidified lava flow of Côme

In Ceyssat, in the village centre, park in the car park near the library (hiking sign and fountain opposite, on the other side of the road).

No markings

(S/E) Cross the road towards the fountain, turn left to pass in front of the hiking sign (which does not concern this hike), then turn right onto the grass towards the children's playground and leave the playground on your left to reach the small spring pool. Go around it on the left and take the path through the woods behind it.

You will come to a street, opposite a fountain and a mini wash house. Turn right. Ignore the dead end on the left and follow Rue des Fétians to the left. You will come to a wider street opposite a renovated communal oven.

Follow the street to the left, then at the fork (fountain on the left), turn right onto Rue de la Fontaine. Further on, pass between a wash house (on the left) and a circular fountain (on the right) and you will soon arrive at a crossroads (red iron cross).

(1) Cross the road carefully and continue straight ahead on Rue des Vessères (note the carved head on the wall of the house on the left). Follow this small road without worrying about the side paths, and enjoy the views of the Puy-de-Dôme and Puy de Côme. The tarmac eventually disappears. Follow the wide path (ignoring the side paths) which enters the undergrowth further on.

(2) At a fork in the path, go left. Soon, you will pass a wooden spring collection hut on your right. Further on, the path runs alongside other similar collection points as it becomes grassier but remains in the undergrowth. You will come to a T-junction.

(3) Continue to the right.

(4) At a fork in the road, at the edge of woodlot no. 24 (number indicated on a tree on the left), turn left. Further on, leave the undergrowth and go around a meadow on the left, on a path that can be very grassy. Ignore a path that branches off to the left and then leads to a road.

(5) Follow it carefully to the left, even though it is very quiet, for about 400 m until you reach a large water catchment on the left-hand side of the road, with a caretaker's house, which belongs to the town of Chamalières. Ignore the path on the right, just opposite, but take the next one (on the right-hand side of a house). Immediately notice a very discreet, natural spring on the right-hand side of the path.

(6) At the T-junction, turn right and continue through the undergrowth. Further on, cross a clearing and you will come to a crossroads. Turn right.

Yellow and green and white markings for the Route Circulaire des Dômes

7In the undergrowth, the path winds its way over rough terrain typical of a cheire (solidified lava flow), in this case that of Puy de Côme. You will come to a T-junction with a wide path.

Green and white markings for the Boucle des Dômes route

(8) Turn right, leaving the yellow markings, and continue along the solidified lava flow. You will come to a road.

(9) Follow it carefully to the right, even though there is little traffic, for about 150 m, then turn left onto a path at a large area used as a hikers' car park and a sign for "Forêt syndicale de Ceyssat" (Ceyssat union forest). At a fork, keep left and ignore all side paths. You will arrive at a crossroads with several paths, opposite the Bacs de Ceyssat, a series of drinking troughs for sheep grazing on the solidified lava flow (this particular terrain is unable to retain rainwater: there are no streams or ponds, so water had to be brought from a spring via an underground canal).

Yellow markings

(10) Continue along the wide path that runs alongside the troughs on your left and, shortly afterwards, ignore the path that branches off to the left. Then find the "Bacs de Ceyssat" marker and follow the signs straight ahead towards Ceyssat. Continue along this wide path, which further on is covered in places with worn tarmac, and continue ignoring the side paths. The path eventually turns into a small road. Shortly afterwards, continue straight ahead at an intersection with another path.

No markings

(11) A few metres further on, leave the yellow markings and follow the path that branches off to the left. Further on, the path is covered with tarmac. At the road junction (water catchment on the right), turn left to reach the crossroads with the D68.

(12) Cross carefully and take Rue de la Croze opposite. Further on, cross the D52 carefully and follow Rue des Serves opposite to return to the village of Ceyssat. Shortly after a fountain on the right-hand side of the road, and before reaching the crossroads with a cross and a weighbridge, turn left onto Rue de la Bascule. At the T-junction, turn right. Shortly afterwards, you will see a fountain and a mini wash house on the right. Join the main street of the village and turn left to find the library car park (S/E).

You can quench your thirst at a genuine natural sparkling mineral water spring: cross the road and turn left towards the town hall. The Source Foker spring is located at the intersection with Rue Saint-Roch.

Moderate difficulty hike. Standard hiking equipment.

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

Photo album here

The Bacs de Ceyssat are a series of troughs for grazing livestock in the surrounding area. When they were built, water had to be brought from underground via an buried canal. These troughs are built on the solidified lava flow of the Puy de Côme. This chaotic terrain, often covered with forest, does not retain surface water. There are therefore no streams or ponds on this terrain, and the troughs are the only source of water in the surrounding area (not drinkable for hikers unless purified or filtered). Rainwater and runoff are stored lower down, below the surface of the solidified lava flow, and many of these water sources are tapped.

The Cheire de Côme. The vast majority of the volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys are cinder cones associated with solidified lava flows emitted from their base. These flows, which vary in size and shape, also differ in the appearance of their surface: when they are chaotic and stony, they are called solidified lava flows. The Puy de Côme stretches for nearly 10 km and is one of the largest in the Chaîne des Puys. Solidified lava flows are often covered with mixed forests and, in the past, plots were cleared of stones for sheep farming.

In the commune of Ceyssat, there are numerous hydraulic structures, including ponds, fountains, drinking troughs and wash houses, all built from Volvic stone.
The Foker Spring has a very modest but constant flow. The water is very rich in iron and slightly sparkling. It contains 6.5 g of mineral salts, including just over 1 g of sulphur and 0.7 g of calcium, with nearly 1200 ml of dissolved carbon dioxide per litre. Don't resist the pleasure of tasting real natural mineral water, but do so in moderation as it is not labelled as drinkable!

For more information about the village of Ceyssat, follow this link.