After the rather strenuous descent of Puy de Sancy, we opted for a more gentle walk in the Chaudefour Valley the next day. This is a green valley nestled in the folds of the mountain, full of lush pasture. The Auvergne has a big cheese industry, no surprise when there's so much green pasture for the cattle, sheep and goats.
wild orchid
Yellow Gentian
The rocky outcrops you can see here are The Cock's Crest on the left, then in the distance, The Devil's Horns, then in the foreground -well, a direct translation is The Tooth of Spite or Malice, and then beyond the big tree is le Grand Dièdre.
Since it was near the end of term, there were a lot of school trips, and I think there were at least two groups in the reserve the day we were there. We were quite entertained listening to them, as we were behind one group for a while on our walk to this waterfall ( Cascade de la Biche). Their teacher hadn't checked how long the walk was, and turned back before the end.
Back in the central meadowland again.
You can see the Cascade de la Biche in the centre of this photo. I'm sure it must be quite spectacular when the snow starts melting.
Source St. Anne, a mineral water spring
I wished I had had an extra bottle with me, to bring some home. It was intensely metallic to taste, and judging by the red of the rocks around, probably has a very high iron content.
Typical cow bell (clarine)
I took a short video with the sound of the cow bells. Sheep wear them too, and from our tent, we could often hear the gentle tinkle of them as a flock of sheep were on the mountain slope across from the campsite. Apologies for the noise from the camera zoom.
What a beautiful sound and a beautiful sounding word. How lovely to see those falls and wildflowers and all that lush greenery.
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