The Auvergne/Massif Central

The Auvergne region is pretty much an unvisited part of France though its popularity is growing. Still dominated by the traditional industries of agriculture and cattle farming, the Massif Central and the surrounding Auvergne region is the largest area of protected land in France. It's mostly volcanic and is quite spectacular. There are two huge regional parks and you see heaps of hikers around, most with their two walking sticks. Sunday is especially popular for hiking and cycling.

Salers is a largely Renaissance town but has no château - one of the few towns without one. The story goes that a long-standing conflict between the townspeople and the local lord culminated in 1666 with a royal order to raze the château - and they did. The lovely houses with their turrets, spiral staircases and stone window sashes reflect the prestige the town earned by becoming a bailiwick, seat of the bailiff who was charged with dispensing justice on behalf of the king in the 15th century.

To get to Salers, we'd gone over the Pas de Peyrol, where a cycling race was underway. Stunning scenery yet again - very green with forests all the way down the sheer mountain sides and lots of volcanic outcrops.

Our plan to drive up the Puy de Dôme, a volcano near Clermont-Ferrand which was formed 11,000 years ago by three volcanic eruptions (later used as a Celtic shrine and Roman temple), were foiled by the fact that they're putting in a train line to the top, due to be finished by the end of this year. So at the moment, the only way to get to the top is by foot. It was quite late by then so we decided to come back the next day and do it. Not sure that climbing a volcano in 40 degree heat after six weeks of eating, drinking and sitting in a car was the cleverest thing to do but it was worth it. You felt you were on top of the world. I noticed there was a defibrillator at the top and couldn't help thinking that there was possibly more need for it somewhere on the way up!

On 7 March 1911, aviator Eugène Reyaux made history by landing a plane on top of the Puy, after flying from Paris for 5 hours. He did it in response to a challenge by the Michelin brothers, tyre manufacturers in Clermont-Ferrand. I wonder how they got the plane off the volcano.

When we got to Clermont-Ferrand, the car temperature gauge showed it was 45 degrees and it certainly felt like it! It's basically a student town and the home of Michelin - tyre manufacturing is a key industry there. It's one of the oldest cities in France - Clermont was one of the largest towns in Roman Gaul and became an episocpal seat in the 5th century. In 1630, the town was aligned with neighbouring Montferrand, thus becoming Clermont-Ferrand. The cathedral (and many of the houses) is built entirely of black lava - it's called the Black Cathedral and can be spotted for miles. The black buildings are really attractive - a nice point of difference from everything else we've seen.