6-Cathar Country

Dear Friends,

We wonder if it's mountainous terrain which contributes to the fierce independence and battles over this imposing countryside. On our way into our campground outside the village of Maury, we'd already spotted the first of the Cathar castles, rock ruins sitting high atop a forboding rocky peak. In the 12th century a small portion of this area's population protested the materialism of the established church. After being termed heretics by the pope in the early 13th C., the French king launched a crusade to rout them out, by brutal seiges, sacking, and massacres.

Lowell and I aimed our tandem, unloaded for this day of exploration, up the steep Grau de Maury pass to Chateau de Queribus. The 1 km. entry road was so steep we had to push the bike much of the route, though at least it was a pleasant day and we enjoyed the emerging high elevation views. We locked our bike at the entrance, and still had a steep, rocky walk up to the ruins. Visiting any of the Cathar castles requires  considerable physical effort. They're all the way up there in the sky!

We've always enjoyed ruins, which leave open opportunities for one's imagination, to envision a garrison of determined believers living in a series of rock-bound connected rooms and keeping watch out narrow slits for any attempt at an unwelcome advance by the enemy. One can easily romanticize such a life, but in fact it would have been beastly difficult to live in such a setting. One spot of unexpected beauty within Queribus was a large room with a single pillar in the middle, topped by fan vaulting. The spiral staircase to a roof terrace offered us a fantastic view over the surrounding countryside.

Now one might think that a steep uphill would become a fun and exciting downhill run on a bike. But this one was too steep, and way too hard on the brakes. So we were forced to walk much of the way down the mountain. Oh well. It was all worth it.

We stopped in a nearby village and then headed out through a peaceful valley to an incredible gorge, where the River Agly has cut deeply through limestone. A perilously narrow road has been built along the edge. It was a gentle downhill for us, and not crowded on this early spring weekday. So we took our time to ooh and aah at the breathtaking overlooks.

A couple of days later we followed the River Aude downstream through yet another beautiful gorge, on our way to Carcassone, whose medieval walled old town sits high on a hill and is visible from all directions. Carcassone's "cite" was restored in the mid-19th C. and is now one of the great tourist draws in the area of Languedoc. We locked our bike outside the double-walled, turreted fortress for a visit. As you might guess, contemporary commercialism thrives in such a concentration of awed tourists. The narrow streets bustled with souvenier shops, and the plazas were filled with cafes. The actual walls were a little quieter, so we wandered along them, looking down over the lower town by the river. Fortunately we did not miss the church of St. Nazaire, with its striking stained glass windows. As we were wandering about, generally looking up, a quintet of men began to sing a capalla. We and all the other visitors literally stopped in our tracks to listen to the pure strains of the motet fill the entire space. An awesome experience.
At Carcassone we decided to head east, not inland, but closer to the coastline, where we felt there would be more open campsites and other amenities. It turned out that the wind was also blowing east, which, as you'll learn, led to both pluses and minuses for us on our tandem.

Love, Ellen and Lowell