Puy de Dome day..........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_de_D%C3%B4me

Our site was situated some 14 plus Km from the summit of the Puy de Dome and having walked the previous day to the local Put de Gravenoise at 933m we set our sights to something a bit more challenging...yes that summit in the background, some would say its akin to the Lions Head in Cape Town.

Our walk took us through Royat and then up and up and up until we reached the Volcanic national park where we then found a path to the summit. The weather was perfect for walking no wind, moderate heat and no rain. As we hit the major slopes the temperature picked up and so did the perspiration.  At the top we could see the view over the Auvergne and the volcanoes its famous for. 

The Puy de Dome has seen 13 tour finishes and tyhe most famous being the shoulder to shoulder finish of the 1964 Stage 20 12 July Brive – Puy du Dôme 217 km Julio Jiménez (ESP)

The 1964 Tour de france was one of the greatest races of all time. Anquetil had come off his Giro victory that ended just 14 days before the Tour started and was tired. His battle with Poulidor culminating in a titanic side-by side climb up Puy de Dôme in stage 20, where Anquetil had conserved just 14 seconds of his lead, is one of the legends of the sport. Unfortunately you cant cycle up this great climb today. 

As we admired the views we could spy on the horizon snow on the far off peaks and then the clouds came rolling in and unloaded their contents so we took the easy option of the train that runs up and down - those that have seen the Garmin post will no doubt have questioned our time down. 

 Harley being a petit chien was granted access to the funicular too - thank goodness for that. Our walk back to the van clocked a solid 28km for the day...and the sun came out too.

 Roll on The Dordogne..............