Castelnaudary from across the Canal du Midi
as we cycled away from town that morning.
Sunday October 11th Castelnaudary to Carcassonne 62.7 KM
Two shots of the Canal du Midi between Castelnaudary and Carcassonne..
We decided to follow the towpath of the Canal du Midi for as long as we could on our way to Carcassonne. This proved difficult because about 12 Km into our journey the towpath started getting narrower and rougher. By lunch time the path had turned into a jungle. It was still cyclable, but we found we had to concentrate so much on the bumpy path that we couldn't really look up and enjoy our surroundings.
Our lunch spot on the Canal.
After lunch we decided to get off the Canal route and find a small road into Carscassonne. Being in amongst all the trees along the canal we had no idea how windy it had gotten. As we made our way out to the road the cross winds were so strong I had a hard time balancing on my bike. It must have been gusting to 50 or 60 Km at this point. For a change, this all worked to our advantage. As we turned toward Carscassonne we had wind at our backs. We Flew. We were peddling at a nice steady pace but cruising along at about 40 Km an hour sometimes. This lasted the better part of an hour all the way into town. It was really fun.
Carcassonne.
Carcassonne really is spectacular. Especially Cité, as the old part town in known. It's also packed with tourists, even out of season. Historically the site on which Carcassone sat has been fortified since Roman times. In recent history it is perhaps best known as one of the Cathar strongholds. Earlier that afternoon as we cycled from Castelnaudary we began to see signs by the side of the road. "Les Pays Cathars" (Cathar* Lands).
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* In the middle ages, Catharism flourished in Southern France. Followers believed in a dualistic world in which the "Good" (spiritual) world was locked in conflict with the "Evil"(material) world. Cathars - also called Albigensians - were vegetarians, practiced asceticism and believed in reincarnation. The growing influence of Catharism was viewed as a threat to the Catholic Church and in 1208 Pope Innocent lll preached the Albigensian crusade against the Cathars. After many long sieges, one Cathar stronghold after another fell to the crusade. One night in 1209 during one particularly bloody incident, thousands of Cathars were murdered in the town of Béziers. In 1244 the last massacre took place at Montségur where 200 Cathars chose to be burnt alive at the stake rather than renounce their faith. In 1321, Guillaume Bélibaste, the last Cathar priest was burnt alive at the stake. |
As Elizabeth and I cycled South from Carcassonne, we passed nearby Cathar strongholds of Queribus, Peyrepertus and Montségur.
Monday October 12th Carcassonne to Limoux 34.4 KM
It was raining again when we woke up. After breakfast, rather than start immediately for Limoux, we decided to go once more up into Cité (the old town of Carcassonne). It was still drizzling when we left the hotel, but not enough to cause any real discomfort. Our luck seemed to hold. As we entered Cité the sun began to peek through. We spent an hour or so visiting a spectacular church before starting our journey south to Limoux. By this time the sun was out in good fashion. We must lead a charmed life.
Bad road signs put us onto the very busy Route National for 15 minutes before we decided we'd better turn back and find a quieter road. This accomplished we got right back into hill climbing. This was inevitable, we knew. From high up in the ramparts at Cité earlier that morning, we saw that our route was going to take us towards the Pyrenees mountains (and there was snow on them there hills.) At least our road followed the Aude river so although there were some pretty good climbs, it wasn't all that bad. But it was windy again.
Because the ground was still soaking from all the rain we'd had earlier, we weren't able to find a good lunch spot. We decided to eat sitting by the side of the road on a stone bridge. The road was quiet so from that aspect it wasn't too bad but the wind made it awful. It was so strong it kept blowing our lunch around. My cheese fell to the ground a couple of times and our bread wouldn't stay put. It wasn't all that much fun. It also made cycling that much harder.
We arrived in Limoux at about 4:30 and found a room at the expensive Hotel les Arcades. We paid about FF230 ($67.00 cdn) instead of our usual FF170 ($50.00 cdn). The room was really nice though so we couldn't complain too much. Rather than eat at the hotel for dinner that night we made a HUGE mistake of eating at another local restaurant, Le Maison de la Blanquette.
When I'd walked in and made a reservation earlier I thought the Maitre D' a little off hand but didn't come away with a really bad impression. What followed at dinner was a disaster. The guy was such a snot nosed little twerp. He talked down to us, he was brisk, he didn't bother to explain anything. There was another French gentleman who was eating at the table next to us. He got the same treatment, but he didn't seem to care. Now, don't get me wrong. It wasn't that the food was all that bad - it was alright - not the worst by any means. But the attitude? Oh man! It sucked!!! As we were leaving he didn't even bother to look up and say, "Good evening" or "Thankyou." He didn't even bother to look up and smile. He just didn't bother and he just didn't care... not... at... all ....This set me right over the edge. I started to sputter all sorts of garbled French, I was so mad. (Where is eloquence when you need it?) He got the gist of what I was saying though. I know because he looked horrified and started to make excuses. We didn't even bother to listen. God, I was mad. Then as we walked out the door I heard him say something to the chef. I couldn't hear what it was but they both laughed. The snot nosed little. . . .
As Elizabeth and I arrived back at our hotel later that night we heard the sounds of people eating and talking in the restaurant on the 2nd floor. We looked in and it was packed with happy people. We should have eaten there.
Tuesday October 13th Limoux to Quillan 41.3 KM
A picture of the Aude river just as we left Limoux..
In preparation for this trip, I read about a little town called "Rennes le Château" and I thought that if we were ever nearby, it would make an interesting excursion. Rennes sits high on a mountain just outside the town of Couiza which is on the road from Limoux to Quillan. The story I heard was this:
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Ruins of a Templar Fortress we saw on the way up to
Rennes le Château on October 13, 1998.
Well, the above remarkable story captured my imagination. Since it was on our route I thought we just had to see it. Elizabeth was reluctant. It involved some very steep climbing for 4 Km. However, after a cup of coffee we were up to the task. We climbed and climbed and climbed. Boy it was steep. We were so happy to reach to top. Aughhh...! They close on Tuesday. It wasn't open. Well most of it wasn't, I mean. We didn't get to see the Church or the Museum. The Château was open, so at least we got to see that much. Then after all that, I forgot to take any pictures at all. Bummer.
We had good bicycling the rest of the day. We reached Quillan at 4 o'clock but the hotel where we wanted to stay wouldn't open until 6:00. (That's a long wait when you're tired and need a shower.)... Aughhh...!!! We killed time by doing what? By having a snack of course. ("Having a crisis? Find a snack!" is my motto.) We had a very good pizza that we bought from a truck that looked just like the french fry trucks you see here in Toronto. What made this truck so special though, was that it had a wood fire pizza oven. Boy it was good.