Up we walked and the tiny town where we started quickly became a patchwork. Turning away from the town, we descended into scrub brush with long stretching vistas. Turning again we had a steeper climb in full exposure...best just to push upwards. The reward at the summit were views of the mountains toward the lower Pyrenees. Life is good and I can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to be here and doing this.

We continue further mostly on a single tracking, alternating between climbing and descending. After passing a Shepard’s church, we descend into Villerouge-Termenès.

Here we have our lunch before touring Château de Villerouge-Termenès, built between the 12th and 14th century. It was in this village in 1321 that Guilhem Belibaste (last known bon homme) fell into the hands of the inquisition, tricked and burned alive.

We are staying our final night in this amazing place. On our terrace author Steve Cracknell came to speak to us. His book _If You Only Walk Long Enough_ tells his adventures walking the Pyrenees from the west coast of France to the east coast.

https://www.payscathare.org/en

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Day 2 - the details

Today we walked 15km starting in Lagrasse on GR36. We started with an uphill stretch and then rolly hills, lined with grapevines in parts. Lunch is alongside a river and most of us dipped our weary feet in the cool water. Tom jumped in and swam around, and I was so much wanting to as well but also didn’t want to walk in wet clothing. I saved my swim to the evening.

After lunch we walked for another hour to visit an Abbey. After touring the Abbey, we weaved through the small lanes in the village of Lagrasse. Some of the group shopped in what stores were open, others sat outside at a cafe for enough time to have a cold beverage.

Next up was a tour of the village given by Carlos, a transplanted Spaniard who has been living in Lagrasse for 9 years. He took us into the historic building, the church, up onto the city walls, into the main square (where we were joined by local children who playfully darted on little bikes amongst our group), we ended the tour in the cemetery. It was interesting to learn that when the Cathars took over the region, they changed the calendar completely - they added days in some months and took days out of other months and renamed the months. Some of the headstones depict that changed calendar.

Next we were treated to vinegar tasting. The flavors were exquisite. Learned a lot about the process!

Finished the night with a pizza feast under the stars. The town is recovering from a festival so a lot of the stores and restaurants have not yet reopened.

Day 2 pics

Monday, September 2, 2019

Hike day 1

Today we started walking in the small village of Montlaur, had lunch in Camplong-d’Aude and finished in the medieval village of Fabrezan. We are staying at Domaine Paul Huc which is apartments converted from buildings of the winery built in the 19th century.

Our group is very large so it’s hard to remember all the people we met, but I believe it’s: Chuck & Deb, Mike & Carole, Liz & Joe, Ed & Sarah, Elena, Ellen, Michelle, Lori, me & Tom. With Judy, Lu, and Sally as guides.

Most our day we walked along vineyards of Corbières. It was an easy day of hiking, mostly flat with the occasional rolling hill, rounding up to 13K. We walked through some pretty windy areas. About the winds: the “vent Cers” brings cold weather from the Northwest and the “vent Marin” brings warm air from the sea.

Tomorrow and the days following will be tougher hikes.

Here’s pictures of us learning about the hikes whilst tasting regional wines.