I already knew a bit about the Auvergne from previous trips. I had ridden a motorcycle there, kayaked on the Allier and had already activated a few high volcanoes on the way to Pamplona in September 2021. This vacation was all about the area itself.
In a QSO, Phil @G4OBK asked me if Auvergne was worth a trip… - Definitely yes: If you are enthusiastic about the almost deserted, fantastic landscape, like Romanesque churches, are impressed by dolmens (stone tombs), love cheese, … but there is much more to discover. And there are summits too… but they weren’t the priority this time.
…near F/MC-069 (in the background)
But since I don’t go on vacation without summits, this time there were 3 first activations (I left some 
) and 8 completes. I have documented the information (e.g. parking) for the first activations on the summits’ pages.
If you pick up a travel guide (I still love it in book form), you realize how big the Auvergne actually is. We therefore split it into 2 parts and spent a week in Millau and a week in Issoire.
Millau is a lively little town in a good location, which has become famous for its beautiful bridge (wonderful view from the local mountain F/MC-114) over the Tarn. The town itself has many inviting cafés and restaurants and I definitely recommend a visit to the market hall.
From Millau you can easily explore the Gorges du Tarn
and the surrounding area, there are 2 impressive stalactite caves nearby (Aven Armand and Grotte de Dargilan), you can visit the birthplace of the famous Roquefort cheese,… and if there are rainy days and you are willing to drive a bit, we recommend a trip to the Egyptian museum in Figeac or a visit to the Peche Merle (in this cave you can see the wall paintings in the original and not as a copy as in Lascaux) - you can also combine the two.
We spent the second week in Issoire. The town is definitely a good place to go out in the evening… there are pubs with 10 types of beer on tap. The Auvergne volcanoes are easy to reach from here. The volcanoes can be roughly divided into 2 areas … on the one hand there is the volcanic chain with the Puy de Dome F/MC-027 as the highest peak (which can be easily reached by train) … and on the other hand the almost alpine volcanoes located a little further west in the area from F/MC-021 (in the north) to F/MC-016 (in the south)
Nearby Issoire is St. Nectaire with my favorite of the 5 AOC cheeses of the Auvergne … and a beautiful Romanesque church.
The Auvergne is quite a large area and yet has many regional specialties. Not only are there many different cheeses … but each region also has its own knives. The most famous is probably the one from Laguiole… (the one with the bee). (… and since it was my son’s birthday on the day we returned, I brought him one hand made from Honoré Durand from Laguiole)
When hiking, you not only see the beautiful landscape… but there are other things too: Regula fell in love with the beautiful Salers cattle with their impressive horns and I have never seen so many butterflies on the paths to the summits as here.
Summary: the Auvergne is definitely recommended as a travel destination 
73 Armin
