So Near Yet So Remote

Clinging to the side of the gorge

When I think of France, I picture Paris, sophistication, berets, vineyards and chateaux. Wilderness is not the first thing that comes to my mind.  But yesterday, our merry little band of 34 Rue du Pont Vieux residents certainly found one of the most remote spots in the country.  We took one of our "field trips" out to the countryside southeast of Carcassonne--to the castles sites of Peyrepertuse and Queribus, via the Gorges de Galamus.  We were maybe 50 km from Carcassonne, and maybe 40 from Perpignan.  It felt like we were on another planet.

Jason has a Toyota Camry van, which will hold 6 passengers.  But I think those passengers are meant to be toddlers.  It made for some Keystone Cops switching at rest stops. Nonetheless, we piled in and off we went. 

We went through Limoux, south through Couiza and Quillan.  Then we headed through the Gorge.  Living in Oregon and having to drive through the canyon from Brookings to Medford sort of prepared me for the trip through here.  Sort of.  The road is basically one way, with too many twists and turns to count. I was eternally grateful that it wasn't snowing and that I wasn't driving.  

Looking down--a long way down

 When we asked Jason about oncoming traffic, he told us that it was sort of "known" that one travels in the direction that we were headed; people don't usually come from the other direction. Someone forgot to tell that to the drivers of the three cars we met.  You just have to back up to a wide spot where you can pass.  It wasn't bitterly cold, but it was very windy. We stopped for photos and then it was on Peyrepertuse. 

The village of Soulatge

Along the way we encountered a boar...and some little piglets. Jason told us of a friend of his here who has joined the local hunt.  Boars are dangerous and unpredictable.  Although this one looks like a wild boar, we decided he was far too comfortable having his picture taken to be wild. 

And the farmer must have thought a bunch of crazy people had come through his village, piling out of this van to take pictures of his pigs.

Picturesque scarcely begins to describe the countryside.  We went through little hamlet after little hamlet, wondering how people earn their livings. 

Peyrepertuse

The fortress with the unpronounceable name is another Cathar stronghold, like Montsegur.  When you see where these fortresses are located, you have to wonder why anyone would want to take them away from the owners. They are remote, lonely, cold and windy. It feels  like the Cathars were pushed to the very edge--and then over it.