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Favourite RegionsThe Auvergne
The volcanic parkThe Parc des Volcans in the Auvergne is France’s largest concentration of recently active volcanoes (in relative terms, at any rate, in that they were still erupting at the start of the last Ice Age). The two best known volcanoes are Puy Mary and the Plomb du Cantal, which both attract many tourists each year. These, as well as several others, were created from one enormous volcano that measured some one hundred kilometres in circumference and three thousand metres in height.
The region is, naturally, of great interest to geologists, the volcanic activity having created an array of spectacular formations, with solidified lava flows filling valleys and damming streams and rivers to form lakes and waterfalls. In fact, the lava flows found in the Auvergne are rivalled only by those in Alaska and New Zealand. In one, a fossilised forest has been discovered. Famous exports: mineral water and tyres
A second famous export after mineral water is rubber. In the mid-19th century, Charles Mackintosh’s niece married a Frenchman from Clermont-Ferrand. They used techniques developed by her uncle to manufacture rubber balls for children, an idea that quickly caught on. When they eventually sold the factory, it was bought by two brothers called Michelin, who went on to produce and market the now world-famous tyres, turning Clermont-Ferrand into a thriving industrial town. Cheese-making
Cheese is a key ingredient in traditional recipes such as truffade, in which it is mixed with puréed potato. Besides potatoes and cheese, other ingredients frequently incorporated into the hearty regional cuisine include lentils, pork and cabbage. A superstitious peopleThe people of the Auvergne have Celtic roots (‘Auvergne’ derives from the name of the Celtic tribe, the Arvernes, who settled in the region around 800BC). Because of their isolation, which prevented the flow of new ideas, for centuries belief in magic and satanic powers was widespread. People were also fearful of the Evil Eye, which it was believed could make women barren and cows dry. To ward off the Evil Eye, people carried the skin of a poisonous animal, most commonly that of a snake or toad, in their pockets, and kept locks of hair from the tip of cows’ tails to prevent them from drying up. Charms and amulets were also commonly used - a piece of serpentine hung round the neck was thought to cure migraines, protect from lightning and lessen fevers. Cures were just as strange, if not more so: spiders webs were employed to stop bleeding, crow brain was used as a cure for chilblains, while eel’s blood mixed with wine was often given to drunks! We offer a grade 3 walk in the Auvergne, The Mountains of the Auvergne. This is a challenging route, with full days of walking and plenty of ascents and descents, but is highly rewarding and includes some superb walks along broad, panoramic ridges and through the Parc des Volcans. |
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The Auvergne, part of the Massif Central and often likened to the Scottish
Highlands, has also been described as an ‘island surrounded by land’.
It is easy to see why: besides the fact that for centuries poor communications
left the region isolated from the rest of France (Auvergnats in fact did
not speak French until the 16th century), the terrain, climate and people
of the Auvergne are different to those of neighbouring parts. It is a
region of great diversity, with broad plains, ancient volcanoes, extensive
forest, rolling hills and U-shaped glaciated valleys. This variety of
habitats has in turn ensured a great diversity of wildlife that includes
many birds of prey such as the eagle owl, red kite and Montague’s
harrier, numerous species of butterflies and moths, and colourful Alpine
flowers which coat the upland pastures in early summer.
The Massif Central and the Auvergne were formed by a series of volcanic
upheavals which can be divided into three phases. In the first, 600 million
years ago, tectonic movement forced granite mountains up above sea level.
Secondly, the tectonic movement 30 million years ago that created the
Alps and Pyrenees cracked the plateaux of the Massif Central. Molten material
rose through the fissures, creating the volcanoes of the Mont Dore and
Cantal, as well as the nearby Cévennes. Finally, the Chaîne
des Dômes was created in a third stage 3 million years ago. 
The volcanic nature of the ground’s substrata has resulted in numerous
hot springs, as well as other springs whose water is particularly rich
in minerals having filtered through rocks with a high mineral content
(the water sold by Volvic is bottled at source in the Auvergne). The healing
properties of the waters were recognised well before Roman times, as the
discovery in Le Mont-Dore in 1818 of a Celtic bath large enough to accommodate
fifteen people proves. The fact that no coins dating from later than the
early 7th century have been unearthed in excavations suggests that the
baths fell into disuse after the fall of the Roman empire. Use of the
baths started again in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the reputation
of spa towns such as Vichy was much boosted by visits by dignitaries such
as the Marquise de Sévigné. In letters to friends during
her stays at Vichy in the 1670s and 1680s, she complained about the water’s
foul taste and of boredom during her daily treatments, but admitted that
her rheumatism had greatly improved. Taking the waters became even more
fashionable after Emperor Napoleon III visited Vichy hoping to cure his
kidney and intestinal problems. Other spa towns in the Auvergne include
Royat, Le Mont-Dore and St Nectaire.
Although industry and tourism (thanks to the increasing popularity of
‘vacances vertes’) have brought some economic diversification,
the Auvergne’s centuries-old farming tradition continues. The orange-haired
Salers cow, with its long horns, is seemingly omnipresent even today.
Its milk is used to make Cantal and Salers cheese, just two of the region’s
numerous varieties of cheese, which also include St Nectaire, Bleu d’Auvergne
and Fourme d’Ambert. The production of such a wide range of cheeses
has earned the region the label ‘the cheese-board of France’.
Nowadays, the majority of cheese is made in factories, but the burons (low stone huts) dotted about the upland pastures are testimony
to times past when the herdsmen made the cheese by hand in their living
quarters, storing it underneath the burons where it was cooler.