CYCLING AND SIGHTSEEING IN THE CORBIERES

May 7-12, 2007

Monday, May 7 we woke up to howling winds so we decided to pack up the bikes and go out to one of the valleys to try to find a more sheltered area.  We programmed Trixie and headed out to the Torgan Gorges, which is a green route in a valley along a river, no arrows, so we know it isn’t steep.

Along the way we stopped at the dramatic Chateau de Queribus.  This Cathar stronghold sits dramatically high up on a rock.  And now, you may be asking, what  is a Cathar stronghold, so I am going to give you your history lesson for this week.

The Cathars were a religious group who split off from the Catholic religion in the 12^th century.  This group split off because they believed that the Catholic clergy were too immersed in the material world.  They could not believe that  good and evil could have been created by the same entity.  They believed that God was all-powerful only for Good and that He cannot allow Evil for He is only love.  Therefore they believed that a separate entity, represented by Lucifer, created the material world in which Evil exists.  To kekep away from evil one must keep away from the material world.

Now, the Catholic pope and his bishops enjoyed their rich palaces and their political power and they did not like the idea of giving up material things.  Pope Innocent III called for a crusade at the start of the 13^th century to purge southern France of these Cathar “heretics”.  The Cathars appealed to the Dukes of southern France for protection and many fortress castles were built or fortified to protect the Cathars.

Our visit to Queribus was very memorable.  The castle looks like it is growing right out of the rock.  Our admission included an audioguide which presented the history, structure and layout of the castle by having a fictional character, Capitaine Alban, accompany us on our tour. 

We started the tour by hiking up a rocky trail, which became narrower and rockier as we progressed.  The wind was blowing hard and howling in our ears as Capitaine Alban explained about the first wall of defense.  He gave us a bit of the history of the castle, which was first mentioned in a document dated 1072.  We continued along a zig-zag path, through the first gate, up steep stairs.  The wind was raging now, at that height, and we had to hang onto ropes to keep from blowing backward down the stairs.  We went around a corner and came to the second gate and the wind DID blow be back so hard I thought I might topple down the steep stone steps I had just mounted, but I did manage to hang onto the rope and tuck into a sheltered spot with a bench for a short rest.

When we finally got up to the top of the mountain we were able to see the soldier’s living quarters, the kitchen, the donjon.  We climbed the spiral staircase to the terrace of the donjon and the winds were so strong we could not hear each other speak.  Then we went back down the stairs and into the secret hiding room, inside the thick walls of the donjon.  Going back down the cliff was just as treacherous, with the winds battering us and blowing us off the edges of the steps.

After our tour we had a Catalan (local style) lunch and then we took a nice bike ride up into a narrow valley along a river,.  When we got to the top of the hill we turned around and rode back to the car.

Over the next fewdays we visited the fortress of Salses and did a very pleasant bike ride near the medieval town of Lagrasse.