It gives unusual feelings to hike in the “Massif Central“, a different emotions from walking in the Alps, for example. I recently explored, thanks to the company of some friends, Puy de la Vache (1167 m), not really a high mountain, nevertheless from the point of view of landscape and nature, simply amazing.
Going up to the top is demanding… as I said, these are not Alps with telepherics and highway for turist hikers and Nature is respected in its wild form, and not treated like your garden. In few words, here the mountain is not anthropomorphized and with a glance from the top, you can only see other “Puys” and 
trees, really impressive.
Puy de la Vache, like all the other Puys in Auvergne, is an extinct volcano, indeed the region is famous for the Regional Parc of Volcanos, but don’t worry… last eruption date back 6000 b.c., and you can feel reasonably safe. The place is also famous to be rich in fossils… unfortunately I didn’t find a single one… not even a simple Ammonites. But I’ll try again! I am sure, there is a fossil waiting for me since 10000 years somewhere…
I have an entire region to explore, backpack on the shoulders and on the road again!!
Ibi et Post 