Puys de Lassolas and La Vache from Fontfreyde

Park south of the village of Fontfreyde, in a car park on the main road (D90) and next to a large gravel area that serves as the village square (building with covered playground, children's playground, school across the street).

No signposts

(S/E) Head north towards the centre of the village to the small square with the fountain and wash house, turn left at this square and take Rue de la Souche on the other side. Pass two streets on the right, then ignore Rue du Soleil Levant on the right and follow a narrow street straight ahead, to the left of a house, which immediately turns right. Shortly afterwards, the tarmac disappears. At the fork in the road, go left and you will immediately come to an intersection at the yellow Fonfreyde signpost.

Yellow disc marker

(1) Follow the signs for Parking de la Vache. About a hundred metres further on, at a crossroads with several paths (not shown on the IGN map, field paths), continue straight ahead, slightly to the right (markings clearly visible). Further on, ignore a path on the left (not shown on the map) and join a wider path.

(2) Follow it to the right. Further on, ignore a path on the right and then, just after, another on the left.

(3) Be careful not to miss the marked trail that branches off to the left here, while the main path continues straight ahead. The trail joins a path marked^GR®®4and 30 at the directional signs.

Markings:^GR®® red and white, and yellow disc

(4) Turn right towards Parking de la Vache and quickly reach this car park on the edge of the D5. Cross this road and follow the path on the far left, marked with^GR®®, Yellow and Blue markings, with the Parking de la Vache signpost.

^GR®® markings, yellow and blue discs

Continue towards Pied du Puy de la Vache. About 300 m further on, ignore the steps on the right that lead up to the adventive crater (which will be visited later). You will arrive at an intersection at the Puy de la Vache signpost.

^GR®® markings, Blue

(5) Continue straight ahead towards Recoleine, leaving the Disque Jaune markings. Further on, ignore a path on the right (signposted "fortement déconseillé" - strongly advised against). You will arrive at a beautiful beech tree whose roots are protected by trellises.

Blue markings

(6) Immediately afterwards, leave the^GR®® and follow the path that climbs to the right towards the summit of the Lassolas crater. The path, on loose pozzolan soil, is quite steep and runs along the edge of the crater of the puy. When you reach the top of the crater, continue along the ridge until you reach the intersection with a path that descends to the left.

(7) Continue a little further along the ridge to the authorised boundary to enjoy the view, then return to the junction.

(7) Descend to the right and follow the path, which is paved in places, which climbs further up to reach the summit of the Puy de la Vache crater.

(8) At the summit, continue along the path that runs along the crater, then descends from the summit via uneven and rather uncomfortable steps (these facilities are already a little old in 2022).

(9) Be careful not to miss the right turn on the path much further down (the path that goes straight ahead is marked with a blue cross). Shortly afterwards, you will see the adventitious crater of Puy de la Vache on your right. The marked trail continues on the left. Look for the small blue^PR®® sign, but before continuing, a visit to the site is a must.
The blue-marked trail then leads back to the D5 and the Parking de la Vache car park.

^GR®® markings

Cross the car park and take the^GR®® marked path you took on the way there in the opposite direction until you reach the intersection with the yellow directional signs.

(4) Continue straight ahead towards the Cassière car park and you will reach an intersection about thirty metres further on.

No markings

(10) Leave the marked trail straight ahead and turn right onto the path for a round trip to the Grotte de Ribbe Haute. After about 600 metres, pay attention: look for two white arrows on a tree indicating that you should turn right, slightly hairpin. At this point, the path that continues straight ahead is marked brown mountain bike, and is not shown on the IGN map.

The path then turns left and arrives at an intersection of several paths (marked brown mountain bike in the opposite direction at this point). Follow the path furthest to the left and, a few metres further on, turn left again onto a path marked with a crossed-out mountain bike sign.

Continue along an increasingly narrow path. You will come to a fork: both paths lead to the entrance to the cave, but the one on the right is perhaps easier, while the one on the left takes you along the bottom of the small Ribbe Haute cliff. Shortly afterwards, you will arrive at the entrance to the small cave.

(11) Your smartphone torch is more than enough for exploring! The cave is no more than 5 m long. Be quiet, as there were bats there when we visited.

Retrace your steps, keeping to the right at the two successive intersections. On the next section, before the third intersection, note that the path passes below a height on the right: this is the top of the small cliff of Ribbe Haute, which overlooks the cave, which can be accessed. Then follow the outward route in reverse until you reach the intersection with the^GR®®.

^GR®® trail markers

(10) Turn right and continue for about 1.2 km. As you can hear the traffic noise from the D2089, look out for a path on the left marked with^GR®® and Green crossed markings.

No markings

(12) Take this very rugged path, which joins a small disused road. Follow it to the left, ignoring two paths branching off to the left. When you see the first house in Fontfreyde, about 50 metres ahead, leave the road and take a path on the left that joins the street running through the village. Follow it to the left and go straight ahead at the crossroads to return to the car park (S/E).

Difficulty: Moderate, standard hiking equipment, perhaps with an additional walking stick. Steep but safe climb to the summit of Lassolas, uncomfortable but easy descent from La Vache.

If you prefer climbing uneven steps to descending them (depending on your knees), you can do the second circular in the opposite direction to the one described here.

The path to the cave is narrow and little used but not dangerous. However, do not stray from it as the solidified lava flow, like the sharp limestone pavement in other regions, is dotted with holes of varying depths that are not always visible.

Be discreet when approaching the cave, which is frequented by bats.

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

Geological interest of the hike

The Puys de la Vache and Lassolas are typical Strombolian cones with twin craters. They are the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys (they are around 8,300 years old), and during the ascent of Lassolas, you can clearly see the still very mineral nature of the crater, punctuated here and there by small touches of green from young birch trees struggling to stabilise the soil.

Throughout the Chaîne des Puys, the craters, as well as the solidified lava flows, have been colonised by the forest. The pioneer species in this colonisation is the birch, the emblematic tree of young volcanoes. They stabilise the soil and later allow the establishment of more massive tree species, such as beech, oak and poplar. One might therefore think that, without human intervention, the magnificent craters of La Vache and Lassolas will one day be covered by forest, as is the case with the Louchadière crater, another crater in the Chaîne des Puys. However, global warming could have other ideas: birch trees are disappearing from the region, made vulnerable by excessively mild winters.

Although for many, the main attraction of this hike will be the superb panorama from the crater summits, I think it is worth exploring the adventitious crater of La Vache. This crater, in addition to the main crater at the top of the volcano, opened up on the side of the dome, much lower down. It is very accessible and was once used as a quarry. There were plans to completely raze the puy, as was done with the Puy de Lemptégy. Fortunately, the quarry was abandoned and redeveloped to display the various rock projections ejected from the craters during an explosion, known as volcanic bombs. A sign on site briefly explains the superb red and black mineral landscape in which you find yourself immersed.

While the first part of the hike passes through the Cheire de Mercœur forest, i.e. the solidified lava flow of the Puy de Mercœur, the return journey is via the Cheire Haute (also known as Cheire d'Aydat), which is the solidified lava flow of the La Vache - Lassolas complex. From the summit of these puys, on the edge of the craters, it is easy to imagine this large flow of magma pouring out of the two crater mouths, and perhaps also from the adventitious crater of La Vache. Below, there was a riverbed, the Veyre, which was cut in two by the flow. This created numerous lakes; the smaller ones filled in over time, but the two largest, the Cassière and Aydat lakes, remain.

Another distinctive feature of this lava flow is that it created a flow channel: when the first flow poured out and solidified, blocking the passage, the subsequent flows had to force their way through and carve a channel in the first solidified flow. The two banks of this channel, raised by the deposition of rock blocks carried by the lava flow, remain on the solidified lava flow. These are two small parallel cliffs called Ribbe Haute and Ribbe Longue. The cave that we visit during this hike was created in the northern cliff (bank), Ribbe Haute. As you approach the cave, the narrow path passes at the foot of this small cliff and, on the return route, you can leave the path for a short while to climb up to the right, to the edge of the cliff overlooking the cave.