One Hundred and Seventy Three.

Day 173

22nd June 2012

Another early start today to avoid the midday heat, we drove through the beautiful Montagne Noire, through all the wonderful windy gorges (thank goodness we gave Chap a travel sickness pill!) and arrived at Queribus.

Co-Ordinates 42° 50' 3" North - 2° 37' 21" East. Altitude - 730 metres.

This is what is said about it:

'This is sometimes regarded as the last Cathar stronghold. In a sense it was. After the fall of the Château of Montségur (Occitan Montsegùr) in 1244 surviving Cathars gathered together in the Corbières in another mountain-top stronghold on the border of Aragon (The present border between the Aude département and the Pyrénées-Orientales département).
Quéribus is high and isolated. It stands on top of the highest peak for miles around. From a distance it can be seen on the horizon, sticking up into the sky.
It is accessible to visitors. You can drive almost to it, walking just the last few hundred metres. The entrance to the castle itself is very steep and narrow - a defensive measure. Notice the number of arrow slits covering the approach.'

It was amazing, Chap had a marvellous time scaling the step steps and gravely paths to reach the summit, thankfully you could drive quite a way up but it was still a climb. Little Lady went in her carrier on Daddy's back. It was beautifully cool that high up, probably only 24 degrees (which is actually hotter than a June day in the UK....).

Marvellous.

We had a picnic before driving back down the mountain and then visited the pituresque village of Cucugnan and the beautiful windmill before heading back to the French House. By the time we got down the mountain it was approaching 30 degrees again...