A Week in the Auvergne

Wood sculpture near our accommodation in Sainte-Christine

Dianne and I have come to France first and foremost for a cycling holiday. We wanted to follow our Lionheart tour with some variety and explore somewhere we haven't spent time before. The Auvergne fit our requirements perfectly and sits right in the middle of France in the Massif Central. Originally we wanted to be further south, close to the landmark Puy-de-Dome, hoping that we might even get to ride up its storied climb. (This peak is where the classic 1964 battle between Raymond Poulidor and Jacques Anquitel occurred, and where, infamously, Eddy Merckx was punched in the kidneys by a spectator and was never quite the same afterwards.) We wanted to be out in a small village rather than in the city but when we couldn't find an apartment in that area that quite fit our requirements we chose to come further north.

As it turned out, we have been delighted with our stay in the commune of Sainte-Christine. (Someone must have migrated from here to Québec in Canada, because there is a village by the name of Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne near the north shore of the St Lawrence River.) There is a brilliant network of quiet roads in the area, the landscape is quite lumpy and so is never boring, and there are quite a few villages one can drop into for a coffee.

During our stay we've done four rides. Here's a graphic to illustrate the ground we've covered ...

I will talk more about the riding shortly, but before that I wanted to mention that our visit here was much enriched by guests coming to stay with us for four nights. We've rendezvoused with Mary Behan and Tim Hegland from Mazomanie in Wisconsin several times in various places over the years - from Tuscany to Squamish to the French Alps to the Canadian Rockies - since we first met Mary in 1992 whilst climbing at Wild Iris in Wyoming. Here's a photo of them with Dianne at the terrace at the apartment we rented near Sainte-Christine ...

Tim, Mary and Di with wine and hors d'oeuvre al fresco

They arrived after we'd had a couple of nights on our own so I will go back a step. Check-in time in most of these week long holiday rentals seems to be 4:00 p.m., so our first evening was simply a matter of getting unpacked, putting the bikes back together, watching the Tour de France, having something to eat and then crashing.

On our second day - which just happened to be Bastille Day - we set off to explore some of the countryside by bike. As we knew it would, our ride took us up hill and down dale. The  terrain is very bumpy. Dianne and I both thought it was a bit reminiscent of the landscape in the hills out the back of of Devonport: not a lot of flat ground. We rode through a number of small villages, all of them with their church but - and alas - few of them had cafes or boulangeries. Not a worry for us but just more evidence of the movement from country to city and the gradual disappearance of village life in many places. Here are some images from our ride ...

Another wood carving beside the lake just up the road from our apartment

Renovator's delight? I'd love to know the history of this place

The Château Pionsat

There is a boulangerie in Pionsat and it was open!

Another roadside attraction

Here in the Auvergne we saw many more roadside icons

This one is about 500 metres from our apartment at a road junction

Monday was a bit cool and we both felt like having a quiet day with our books before Mary and Tim arrived. The apartment we'd rented is an old farmhouse that had become rather rundown and has been restored by Jean-Marc the owner. It is one of those places where humans and beasts dwelt under the same roof. The kitchen and dining area was the little barn that may have housed ten or twelve cows in the winter time. No doubt this would have helped keep the place warm. Mary and Tim arrived just before 6 pm at which time Di organised a great dinner using fresh produce from the market in Saint-Gerais d'Auvergne and some marinated chicken fillets, all washed down with a couple of bottles of rosé. Brilliant! It was great welcoming the two of them to this place out the back of beyond. They really liked our apartment, perhaps partly because they themselves live in an old renovated farmhouse in the country.

On Tuesday we went for another ride, this time a little shorter with quite a lot less elevation as we didn't want to be too worn out to be sociable with Mary and Tim after they'd come so far to visit! 😉 They explored the neighbourhood a bit while we were out. Our plan worked a treat as we were back in time to make lunch for our guests.  Some of us even had time for a short nap in the afternoon before I cooked a pasta. The owner of the apartment is an artist and has filled the place with a lot of artwork and art books, which Tim really enjoyed perusing.

Over dinner we made plans to visit Clermont-Ferrand, the closest city of any size. It ranks as one of the oldest cities in France and is steeped in history. I'll say a bit more about it shortly, but am excited to relate our visit to a place that Tim was keen to visit, especially as it was on the way. The Musee A. Baster motorcycle museum in Riom houses an incredible collection of two and three wheeled vehicles. The number of motorbikes sporting sidecars was incredible. Here is just a very small selection of the photos I took as we wandered around inside ...

Look at the six cylinder engine on this monster!

Mary admires a miniature bike for a rather small child

Di adored these classic old baby buggies

There were quite a number of bicycles with gas engines on display

Here is a pedal powered horse buggy

In the foreground is the luggage carrier on the back of a motorbike, with a matching trailer behind 

How is this for a classic two seater scooter?

A very stylish Norton sidecar

Check out the dynamo on this bike but what's even better: the fender ornament!

A rearfender-mounted compartment for repair materials

We could easily have spent another hour or two wandering around but thought we better make tracks for Clermont-Ferrand. The town is the home of Michelin and where the company was founded. Indeed, there is a Michelin museum in the city that is apparently quite a tourist drawcard. We cyclists can thank Michelin for inventing the first detachable bicycle tire in 1891, on which the inaugural 1200 kilometre Paris-Brest-Paris race was won the same year.

Like most large French cities, Clermont-Ferrand has a massive cathedral, but first I'd like to mention the Basilique de Notre Dame du Port, which is a Romanesque church, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a waypoint on one of the pilgrim routes leading to Santiago de Compostela and was founded in the 6th century. It is not so grand as the cathedral but has a great sense of history about it. Here are a few images ...

The Ferrand Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Clermont-Ferrand) is a much grander building and is quite unique in that it is made of black lava stone. Twin towers rise to over 96 metres. The cathedral is the third built one built on this spot, with its origins dating back to the 5th century. The original was completely destroyed, but there is still a 10th century crypt incorporated into the latest iteration. Personally, I think it's a pity there is not a large place in front of the cathedral from which one can more easily contemplate and admire its grandness. This image is the best unimpeded view I was able to get ...

There is a very grand open square right in the middle of Clermont-Ferrand called Place de Jaude, in which stands an impressive statue to Vercingétorix ...

Vercingétorix statue in Place de Jaude

Vercingétorix is the ancient Gaulish hero who defeated Caesar's army at the Battle of Gergovia, killing several thousand Roman troops. Unfortunately for him this brought down the full wrath of Caesar and Vercingétorix's army was in turn annihilated at the Battle of Alesia. As the battle was going badly Vercingétorix surrendered to save as many of his troops as possible. He was held captive for five years before Caesar paraded him in Rome and executed.

Anyway, that's my take on Clermont-Ferrand. Quite a good city to spend a day or two in I think if you're contemplating a visit to the Auvergne and are a city person.

Of course what we're here for primarily is to ride our bikes, and we had a couple more excellent rides before we left the Auvergne. Here are a few more images from cruising the countryside on our next ride  ...

A random Roman bridge Di spotted as we rode past on a more modern road

The bridge surface is still in excellent repair

Wysteria going mad by the roadside. Can you see Di disguised in the distance?

Coffee and snack stop in St-Éloy-les-Mines

On the second last night that Mary and Tim were with us we went for a drive and out to dinner at a restaurant that is in an old schoolhouse. Here are a couple of sixty-something ladies remembering their days of sitting at the desks of the times ... 

... and a photo of the four of us together ...

When we emerged from dinner the light was brilliant and I had to get this beautifully bucolic shot ...

We wanted to show Mary and Tim the Roman bridge we'd crossed earlier in the day and got there just as the light was fading. Mary got this shot of a fly fisherman doing his thing in the river below ...

Our last ride in the Auvergne took us to the plus beaux village of Charroux. It was another superb outing ...

Leaving the Auvergne

At the end of the week it was time to pack up our bikes and prepare for our departure. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and were delighted with the riding. The network of roads is amazing. I'm not sure we'll be back because there are lots of other places we still want to visit while we can still get ride in challenging places, but we definitely recommend the area to anyone who likes to ride their bikes in places without so many cars on the roads.

My last image to share of the area is this one of a typical house ...

Everything is built in stone, and blue shutters over windows and doors dominate. Many of them are in a lighter shade than this, but I took the photo as an afterthought. 

Finally, it's a thanks to Mary and Tim for coming to this out of the way place to spend time with us. We had a ball together. Di's first thought when we found the holiday rental was "I wonder if Mary and Tim would be up for another rendezvous?" True to form, they were! A bit of touring around together, meals tossed together with whatever is at hand, good wine and lots of great conversation. Hopefully we'll do it all again before too long. Next year in the southeast of France while Dianne and I are wandering through history along the Cathar Way perhaps?