More Clermont: Et Puy, voila quoi!

July 26, 2015

Up, up, and UP! Leaving the campground at ten this morning, I turn right at the entrance and begin a three kilometer climb to the top of the Puy de Charade. There's a small village and a golf course (!) at the top, and no direction signs, so I spend a while figuring out which road I want. Turns out that the only road that's not a dead end is the one I take. Go figure.

After three kilometers of hard climb, this doesn't seem like a game.

There's a nice downhill from Charade to le Font de l'Arbre, but it's here that the serious climbing begins to get to the Puy de Dome.

The highest of the Puys. These are extinct volcanoes and the Puy de Dome, which overlooks Clermont is the grand daddy of them all. On top is an observatory and a ridiculously overpriced tourist restaurant cum souvenir shop, as well as the ruins of a Roman temple to Mercury. It's only accessible by cog wheeled train, so no bikes, so,I didn't go to the top.
Excuse the focus. The camera kept trying to focus on the flies.

I did get to the highest point on the road, though.

Eight percent average, with a short stretch at ten percent, three kilometers from Font de l'Arbre.

From the col, I had the choice of carrying on or turning back to Clermont. The traffic going onward decided me, and I retreated to Clermont, which turned out to be a good decision as the road led all way down to the city, fifteen kilometers away and no pedaling!

In Clermont, I went to the railway station with the intent of finding a way out of town that didn't involve lots of vacationers and their cars. There was a train going to Volvic in a few minutes, and I reckoned, rightly as it turned out, that there would be no sightseers from there onward. The Volvic station is actually several kilometers out of town and about three hundred meters higher. It's also the most antiquated station I've ever seen. All the signals are mechanical, and the station master has to throw them by pulling on big levers.

From Volvic I rode to Les Ancizes on undulating country roads. The sky was becoming more and more overcast, so,I turned around and went back to Volvic to,await the train back to Clermont. From the suburban station in Royat, it was just a climb up to the campground where showers, beer, and supper awaited.

The recreation room at the campground. It's empty in this pic, but very soon after the rains came and it got very crowded.

Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 153 km (95 miles)

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