Invisible volcanoes
Oct. 22nd, 2007 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustOn the fourth night of our travels, we reached the Auvergne, the first of the two regions we were planning to explore, found a bed and breakfast on the fringes of the regional park, and decided to stay for a couple of nights. So on Sunday afternoon we set out to climb a volcano.
The highest mountain in the chain is the Puy de Dôme, but we had on a previous visit driven up the toll road to its summit, so this time, on the advice of our host, we took the footpath up the Puy de Pariou, recommended as the prettiest peak, with the most perfectly circular crater. Prettiness seems an odd quality to attribute to a volcano, but it fits these rounded cones, their slopes upholstered in greenery as smooth as a baize tabletop.
Not that we got to see views like this. We thought at first that we'd been lucky with the weather, that the scotch mist of the morning had cleared instead of resolving into rain, and we climbed hopefully through the forest, but when we came out onto the estives (the summer pastures - isn't that the same as an alp?) we emerged into cloud. We were on the shoulder of the mountain, with a panorama of volcanoes to either side of us which we simply couldn't see. Fortunately, the path was clearly marked; it's close enough to Clermont Ferrand to be a popular Sunday afternoon excursion, erosion is a serious problem which has been countered by a walkway of wooden steps and platforms up which groups of people hike, walk their dogs, even jog.
As we climbed, we saw less and less, and when, breathless, we stepped out onto the rim of the crater, not only was there no distant panorama, we could not see even the far side of the crater. Beyond the lip, a sigle tree emerged from the mist. Only as we circled the brim of this bowl full of white mist did the visibility gradually improve, until we could see first the bottom of the crater and then - just - the faintest grey line of the far edge.
The following morning, heading south, we pulled in again to the car park at the foot of the path, and watched the Puy de Dôme playing peekaboo, twirling a wisp of cloud around the radio mast on its summit, hiding from the camera.
The highest mountain in the chain is the Puy de Dôme, but we had on a previous visit driven up the toll road to its summit, so this time, on the advice of our host, we took the footpath up the Puy de Pariou, recommended as the prettiest peak, with the most perfectly circular crater. Prettiness seems an odd quality to attribute to a volcano, but it fits these rounded cones, their slopes upholstered in greenery as smooth as a baize tabletop.
Not that we got to see views like this. We thought at first that we'd been lucky with the weather, that the scotch mist of the morning had cleared instead of resolving into rain, and we climbed hopefully through the forest, but when we came out onto the estives (the summer pastures - isn't that the same as an alp?) we emerged into cloud. We were on the shoulder of the mountain, with a panorama of volcanoes to either side of us which we simply couldn't see. Fortunately, the path was clearly marked; it's close enough to Clermont Ferrand to be a popular Sunday afternoon excursion, erosion is a serious problem which has been countered by a walkway of wooden steps and platforms up which groups of people hike, walk their dogs, even jog.
As we climbed, we saw less and less, and when, breathless, we stepped out onto the rim of the crater, not only was there no distant panorama, we could not see even the far side of the crater. Beyond the lip, a sigle tree emerged from the mist. Only as we circled the brim of this bowl full of white mist did the visibility gradually improve, until we could see first the bottom of the crater and then - just - the faintest grey line of the far edge.The following morning, heading south, we pulled in again to the car park at the foot of the path, and watched the Puy de Dôme playing peekaboo, twirling a wisp of cloud around the radio mast on its summit, hiding from the camera.
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