The road ends at a railing, and beyond it the ground falls away into a huge crater. Pas de Bellecombe is the viewpoint on the rim of the Enclos Fouqué, the vast caldera wall that contains Piton de la Fournaise, and it sits at around twenty-three hundred metres. Standing here you look down about a hundred metres onto a flat floor of black lava, with the small cinder cone of Formica Leo in the foreground and the main volcanic cone rising beyond it, rust and charcoal and sometimes steaming.
Getting here is a quiet pleasure. From the plateau village of Bourg-Murat, the forest road climbs through tree heather and then through fog-soaked scrub that gets thinner and lower until you are riding across a landscape that looks like another planet. The road is narrow and mostly smooth, with long bends, and the temperature falls fast. Wind can be harsh, clouds often roll in by early afternoon, and visibility can drop to a few metres, so the cleanest views come before ten in the morning. Bring a warm layer; it can feel like autumn in the middle of the tropics.
The volcano is one of the most active on Earth and erupts several times in a typical year, usually from vents inside the enclosure, which is why the area is monitored closely. When an eruption is under way or the alert level is raised, the prefecture can close the road, the car park and the trails, so check the local news before committing. Most eruptions are effusive, with lava flowing slowly across the old floor, rather than violent explosions, but the authorities do not take chances.
A staircase leads down from the viewpoint for those who want to walk the crater. It is a serious hike, across rough lava, and the weather can change quickly.