Le Sentier Cathare and Carcassonne

I love castles and had always wanted to visit Carcassonne. So I decided to fly there and also do a couple of days walking, with the most obviously accessible destination (by public transport) being the area around Quillan to the south, in the foothills of the Pyrénées Orientales. A bit of research led me to Le Sentier Cathare, a long distance footpath passing through Quillan and linking together the most important Cathar castles. At three nights, the trip was a day shorter than most of my overseas excursions but it meant only two days off work and I felt it would be enough to see if the area warranted a longer visit in the future.

Costs. Flight £63. Car parking £15.99. Quillan hotel €65. Puivert B&B €40. Carcassonne hotel (B&B) £66. Carcassonne–Airport bus €5 each way. Carcassonne–Quillan train €19.60 return (I should have paid €2!). Quillan–Comus bus €1. Typical evening meal with drinks €17–€29. Travel insurance £6. Total cost of trip £335.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hôtel La Chaumière, Quillan (Day 1, Read my review); Au Petit Verger, Puivert (Day 2, Read my review); Hotel Des Trois Couronnes, Carcassonne (Day 3, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Languedoc & Roussillon (Rough Guides, 5th edition); Collins Butterfly Guide by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington (Harper-Collins, Paperback edition).

Maps. Le Sentier Cathare, 1:50,000, Rando Editions.

Day 1: Travel to Quillan. Left home at 5.15 am and drove to Prestwick. Flight was scheduled to take off at 7.05 am but there was a technical problem with the plane, a new one had to be flown across from Edinburgh, and we eventually took off about 1 pm. So landed in Carcassonne at 4.15 pm local time rather than the 10.20 am scheduled. Caught bus into town and up to the cité, walked quickly around the old fortifications and then down the hill to the railway station, and caught the 7 pm train to Quillan, arriving 8.09 pm. Found hotel (pre-booked) and had dinner.

Day 2: Walk from Comus to Puivert. Caught 10.20 am bus to Comus, arriving early at 11.10 am. Walked along Le Sentier Cathare to Puivert. This corresponds to two day-stages of the long distance path, but missing out the detour into the village of Espezel; about 20 miles/32 km in all, but much of it downhill. The walk was across green, rolling scenery at the start and then, after Espezel, through woods dotted with memorials to maquis fighters. Unfortunately, some of the tracks in the woods had been churned into mud by logging activity. I arrived in Puivert at about 6.40 pm (so 7 h 30 min walking), found my very nice and friendly B&B (pre-booked), gratefully received a nice cup of tea, and had dinner.

Day 3: Walk from Puivert to Quillan; travel to Carcassonne. Left my B&B at 10 am and climbed the hill to the Chateau de Puivert, still following Le Sentier Cathare. Toured the castle (€5) and then carried on with my walk. Somehow, I then lost the official path, wrongly staying on the crest of the ridge, and ended up finding my way down into the village of Nebias through the interesting Labyrinthe Vert. From Nebias, I took the alternative Sentier Cathare route through Brenac and back down into Quillan. This stage of the walk was about 11 miles/18 km. Caught the 6.20 pm train (which was a bus) back into Carcassonne, arriving about 7.30 pm, found my hotel (pre-booked), and had dinner.

Day 4: Travel home. Caught bus out to airport and then 11 am flight back to Prestwick, arriving 12.15 pm local time. Home around 1.15 pm.

Wildlife seen. Mallow Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Scarce Swallowtail, Wall Brown, Speckled Wood, Holly Blue, Comma, Wood White, Orange-tip, Green Hairstreak, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Owly Sulphur, Wall Lizard.

Other useful links. Le Sentier Cathare footpath

SNCF trains

Quillan local buses

Cathar castles

Reflections. Owing to the outbound flight delay, I had little time in Carcassonne but enough, perhaps, to have gained a decent impression of the place. The weather was not great for walking, with a cold wind and the occasional patch of thin drizzle. My walk on Day 2 was a little overlong for a first day and left me rather footsore. There were many butterflies around but nothing too unusual. I would say that the area is well worth further exploration but with more time and maybe three or four weeks later in the season when the weather was warmer.

© 2014 The Untravelled World