“La Chapelle-Agnon, in the Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park, has a beautiful vein of quartz, mined in quarries, hence the name of this hike. It’s also a good address for jams and honey, at Le Chaudron de Fournioux, and while I invite you to go there, I also encourage you to take a look at their website to see what they do NOT offer on site. I love it when locavore gets out of hand! If that’s too far for you, there are stores in Clermont-Ferrand where you can buy their products, notably L’Eau Vive on rue Fontgiève. It’s good, it’s organic, it’s local, and the hike is just a stone’s throw from the workshop.”
“Let’s get down to the hike itself. Approximately 10 km with a 300 m difference in altitude, no great difficulty and a beautiful variety of landscapes. And as we’re in the Livradois region, you’re unlikely to come across anyone, which was the case for us on this July 15. I must confess, and you’re beginning to know this, that I don’t really like hiker “highways”, where you shout out a breathless “bonjouuuur” every ten meters. I prefer it when there’s nobody around, except the locals, farmers, dogs, cats, chickens (cows, no, I prefer to avoid them). That’s better. Well… except when I come across a local old-timer holding a screaming rabbit by the ears (that’s a terrible scream) before stuffing it for his evening meal. Ugh. A bit wild in the Livradois.
