Fleury to the Pyrenees: July 20

Another great feast for breakfast! Elaine – if you read this you have the award for best breakfast!

Today our journey takes us from Fleury to the French border, with a visit to the medieval walled city of Carcassonne.

We say goodbye to Elaine, Julian, Tom, Alice and Daniel. We have really enjoyed our couple of nights with the family and would love to have stayed longer. The kids all got on well too.

Carcassonne is quite a famous city, but we have been warned that it can get very busy in the “Haute Season” (now). The warning seems justified when the first 2 car parks are closed because they are full.

We park a small distance away and walk to the entrance to the walled section of the city and the castle. The draw bridge dates back to the 14th century! Inside the walls are lots of very narrow streets – unfortunately filled with restaurants and kitsch souvenir shops, and packed with tourists. We walked around the edge, through the middle twice; before we decided we had seen enough. Maybe it is better at night?

Back into the car and off in the direction of Spain and the mountains. We have stayed off the Motorway and travelled through lots of beautiful countryside and pretty villages. We stop in Limoux and try some sparkling wine. If you can’t afford Champagne (which of course comes from Champagne) the next best thing is sparkling from Limoux. Courtenay is impressed because the lady in the wine shop also gives her a glass to taste. We make a purchase – you can never have too much good sparkling!

Unfortunately the weather has deteriorated a bit and most of the mountain tops are covered in low cloud. This is a pity, as I think they would be rather spectacular. Some of the valleys are really narrow, and we go over several quite high mountain passes. Our stop for the night – a small town high in the Pyrenees Orientals called Mont Louis. Once again a 2 star hotel – all 4 of us in one room. This room has the smallest bathroom I have ever seen! We have an in room picnic for dinner consisting of baguette, ham, cheese and tomato.

Mont Louis has the remnants of an old Fort which we decided to explore after dinner. We did not get far. Most of it is all locked up as the French Army use it. Another very historic and pretty town. By now we have decided that there must be thousands of quaint little towns and villages across the length and breadth of France, as there is now way we can just have lucked in on the best ones!

We stopped in at the hotel bar where we are staying for a nightcap. After a quick drink we tell the barman to add the drinks to our room tab, and get a very curt “It is impossible – we are closed – you must pay now! – including the room” I am not sure what he would have done if we had not gone into the bar for a drink – but we got the impression that he was not a fan of the English – and did not care that we were in fact Australian. I hesitantly enquired about breakfast – also impossible – they are closed in the mornings – just leave the key in the door. I guess you get what you pay for – the room was quite cheap!