A taste of Auvergne in Orcines

Driving along the D942 is a great opportunity to stretch your legs and make some wonderful discoveries in about an hour and a half. Leave the D942 at the roundabout signposted Puy-de-Dôme, but take the exit towards Font de l'Arbre. Leave your vehicle in the Village Auvergnat car park, on the left just after the roundabout.

No signposts

(S/E) Return to the street and turn left towards the village centre. At the crossroads by the bakery, note the fountain-wash house on the right and continue straight ahead. Further on, leave the road to Orcines on your left. At the restaurant, notice the stream, La Tiretaine, behind a low wall on the right, at the start of its course. Ignore Rue de la Combe on the right, signposted La Font de l'Arbre, Rue de la Combe, while noting the fountain and the stream that runs under the house. Continue straight ahead for about thirty metres.

Yellow disc signpost

(1) Turn right towards the fountain-wash house, Rue du Maréchal-Ferrand. Pass the fountain and turn right onto the small square (renovated communal oven) to reach a T-junction with Rue de la Combe, which you ignored earlier. 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. Arrive at a street intersection in Montrodeix.

(2) Note the iron cross mounted on a Roman milestone on the right. Turn left, then right onto Rue des Fonts Vieilles, passing in front of the beautiful fountain-wash house-watering trough complex. Continue straight ahead to arrive opposite Place des Parsières, adorned with a large fountain-wash house.

Green markings + yellow disc markings

Turn right onto the road that passes in front of the bus shelter. Shortly afterwards, turn left onto Chemin de Châteaufort. Walk alongside the sheepfold facilities. You will come to an intersection with a path leading off to the right, just before a signpost.

No markings

(3) 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 or castle, but there is a water catchment and, above all, beautiful basalt columns.

(4) Retrace your steps, turn right at the signpost and walk a few metres.

Green markings

(3) 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.

(5) Retrace your steps.

Green markings

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 to find the Village Auvergnat car park (S/E).

Easy hike. The route takes you along streets, but also paths and trails, so walking shoes are highly recommended.

At the Village Auvergnat, at the start/end of the walk, various local products and souvenirs are on sale, some of which are a bit touristy, but the price of cheese is very reasonable (in 2023) and even locals like me regularly come here to stock up. A whole Saint-Nectaire cheese can be kept for several weeks in its greaseproof paper at the bottom of the refrigerator. It makes an original holiday gift that will fill your car with its aroma on the way home.

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

In this part of Auvergne, we are lucky to still have villages with old houses and numerous wash houses, still filled with water, often made of Volvic stone. The whole of Montrodeix, in particular, is superb.
Place names: 'Font' = fountain is often found in the names of villages and localities, such as Font de l'Arbre here, and, not far away, Fontanas, Fontaine aux Bergers, etc.

The Roman milestone at Montrodeix (2) is emblematic of the Via Agrippa Roman road, which linked Lugdunum (Lyon) to Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes), passing through Augustonemetum (Clermont) and the Temple of Mercury at the summit of Puy de Dôme.

Although Auvergne is often associated with cattle farming, including the famous Salers breed, it should not be forgotten that sheep farming once predominated in the Chaîne des Puys. This activity is making a strong comeback, especially as the development of the puys (a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site ) requires the maintenance of their slopes. While the forest, particularly magnificent beech forests, has taken over the lower slopes, the upper slopes around the craters must remain clear and are therefore maintained by flocks of sheep during the summer.

The Chaîne des Puys is not as rich in basalt columns as other parts of Auvergne, such as the Haute-Loire, but the Montrodeix formation is a fine example.
Called organ pipes, by analogy with the musical instrument, basalt columns are a geological formation resulting from the solidification and thermal contraction of a basalt flow shortly after its emission. The lower part, which cools or dries more slowly, fractures from the surface downwards in the form of sub-vertical prisms with a decimetric hexagonal cross-section. These columns are topped by an area of smaller, less regular prisms (or "false prisms") that can form clusters. Their presence here can be explained by the high volcanic activity in this region.

If we ignore the nearby power station (unfortunately), the spring site is very pretty, with its fountain giving it a touch of Brittany!