Cantal—have you heard of it? (page 3 of 4)

Thanks for this walk. It’s really gorgeous. And I loved all those thousand shades of soft green.

Thanks Bluequark, for this nice message. 🙂

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- Tuesday, May 27 :

No specific goal this morning. We head towards Murat, and from there take the north, northeast direction towards Condat and the Gorges de la Rhue.

It’s another side of Cantal, pleasant but didn’t leave a strong impression on us. In the gorges, a chamois crossed our path, but didn’t give me time to grab my camera ….



During a break, while studying the map, I realize we’re really close to Bort-les-Orgues … ?? 😉

And I suddenly remember something that had caught my interest there a few months ago. I’d seen a classical music concert on TV, performed near a stunning castle. At the time, I’d thought I’d love to see it and take some photos ….

That’s going to keep us busy for a while and make us drive quite a bit, just to "snap photos" from two opposite directions!!

Here’s the Château de Val, by the Bort-les-Orgues dam reservoir.











It’s on the opposite side of the lake, and we had to drive around quite a bit to find a spot that was accessible and clear of vegetation... perfect for taking photos.

On the other hand, the basaltic Orgues site near Bort seemed really disappointing and not all that interesting. But "to each their own... " 😄

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It doesn’t have much to do with Cantal, but that morning, as I was leaving a village, I caught sight of a horse—really beautiful—on my left. I stopped and realized there was actually an adult and a very young foal.

I took a few photos and met the animals’ owner, who told me their stories: the mare had lost her foal during birth, and the foal’s mother had died giving birth to him… just two days apart. They’re two different breeds! The adult is a Breton horse—I’ve forgotten the foal’s breed. But it doesn’t matter because when the two owners tried introducing them, the mare adopted the foal and now nurses him. 🙂



I thought they were both so beautiful!

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In the morning, at the start of the return trip, we took the D3 road towards Murat. Then we headed through the Cheylade valley towards the Puy Mary!!



We made a quick stop at la cascade des la Roche.





Later, near the D62/D680 junction, and also towards le col d’Eylac.







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Dramatically slicing through the ridgeline on our left: La brèche de Rolland.





We cross the Pas de Peyrol for the 2nd time in... 2 days, and take a short break at the col de Redondet. One last shot of the Puy Mary... is a must!



But also, to the east, a view of the Puy Griou (1690 m), with the "Petit Griou" (1514 m) in the foreground.



The vallée de la Jordanne:





Then the col du Perthus, heading toward St Jacques-des-Blats.

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While passing through the Col du Perthus the day before, I had taken this photo, and I couldn’t identify this distinctive peak (when you’re familiar with the area).

It was a contact on another forum (!!) who told me it’s the summit of l’Elancèze (1680 m):



At the entrance to St Jacques-des-Blats, I found this mountain slope interesting, with the railway viaduct.



While analyzing the photo, I noticed the cable car pylon: it could ONLY be the one leading to the base of the Plomb du Cantal, which I still haven’t seen...

This other photo shows the top terminal station of the cable car at the very top right (Unfortunately, the summit wasn’t visible from this angle...



When we arrived at our guesthouse, I discovered there’s a castle in Thiézac: Château de Rivière (unless I’m mistaken)



(Actually, during this trip, we realized there are a lot of beautiful castles in the Cantal... ??) ...

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- Wednesday, May 28: It’s our last full day in le Cantal.

This morning, we’re heading to la cascade de la Roucolle, accessible between Thiézac and Vic-sur-Cère: The vallée de la Cère is a narrow, steep-sided gorge.





The vegetation is dense. Near the waterfall, a nice wooden belvedere has been built, but the view of the waterfall is almost completely blocked by young trees. A bit of trimming would really highlight the site.



We follow a path to a footbridge whose sturdiness might be questionable.







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We’re lucky enough to spot a Dipper ... (This bird feeds on small mollusks, which it finds at the bottom of streams!!)

(Sorry about the poor image quality—it’s been heavily enlarged)



Otters are also said to be present here, but you won’t see them in broad daylight...



After lunch in the A.M. (and the essential coffee), we head toward the hills of Thiezac. We were told about an easy hike through the pastures. Other hikers at the starting point confirmed the route for us.





We were warned about the feisty nature of Salers cows—especially since there are so many calves here, and the mothers are EXTREMELY protective.



We also always noticed a large male in the middle of these herds, so we made big detours since the path was occupied by the animals.

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Unfortunately, at the entrance to a property—even though the official trail markers pointed this way—a sign clearly stated that hikers weren’t welcome to go through the gate.... ?!? So we turned back and walked through the middle of the cows again... 😕



But we still managed to see (and hear!) the top of a waterfall, which was on our itinerary.



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We’re getting there via a different route.



This is Faillitoux Waterfall, cascading down from the top of a basalt flow:





From below or above, you can clearly see this formation—known as basaltic organs:





I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but we’re in the Auvergne volcano region (classified as temporarily dormant, by the way!)



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And in the distance (of the valley) flows a river... !! 😉



To be continued...

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- Thursday, May 29:

It’s departure day. We’re leaving le Cantal and heading toward the Arcachon Basin via small roads. Tonight, we’ll stop for the night in Marmande.

But first, I really want to get a closer look and bring back some photos of...

- Château de Pesteil in Vic-sur-Cère (a listed historic monument).



We’d spotted it from afar on our way back from Aurillac that day.









Goodbye, le Cantal—we’ll probably be back someday! We really enjoyed discovering everything this region has to offer...

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Thanks Alain for this very green trip (at least at this time of year) and apparently sunnier towards the end than at the beginning. Several names rang a bell, but I think it was more from the slideshows my dad used to comment on back then than from real memories 🤪.

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Thanks, Muriel, for your commented passages on this photo travel journal!

Childhood memories can sometimes be blurry or influenced by different things, like TV reports, quite often. I sometimes have huge memory gaps....!! Keep up the good work.

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On the route between Aurillac and Marmande, we’re making two detours to see some sites we didn’t know about but were recommended to us...



First, the famous village of St Cirq-Lapopie:







It’s so famous that it’s packed with people, and all the parking lots are full... especially since it’s a public holiday on May 29, making for a great long weekend! I just grab a few photos and a coffee by the Lot River.

Further on, we stop at Château de Bonaguil, which I’d heard a lot about from a former colleague who’s from the area.





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My account of our stay in le CANTAL is now complete.

Thanks to all the visitors and commenters.

Next trip planned for early October: It’ll be a bit farther afield… Kenya, exclusively for wildlife photo safaris.

Best regards,

Puma2A

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Thanks for this travel journal about a French department that rarely gets the spotlight! 🙂

Thanks Agnès 🙂

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Thanks for this super interesting travel journal—it’s made me want to go back to this region, which I visited about twenty years ago. The photos are awesome.