Читать книгу Walks in the Cathar Region - Alan Mattingly - Страница 15

WALK 2

Minerve

Start/Finish	Minerve
Distance	Long Walk 18km (11.2 miles); Short Walk 6km (3.7 miles)
Time	Long Walk 5hr; Short Walk 2hr
Altitude	Long Walk 180m to 400m; Short Walk 150m to 340m
Maps	IGN 1:25,000 2444ET (Somail Minervois); Minerve is in map fold 2

This section describes a long walk and a short walk. Both are circular, and start in the village of Minerve.

The long walk crosses a very dry limestone landscape, the causse, and passes close to two dolmens. The short walk passes the reconstructed ‘Malvoisine’ (see the Short Walk). Both cross riverbeds in the gorges near Minerve. Those are usually dry in the summer, but in the winter, and at other times after heavy rain, the rivers flow. The long walk is best not attempted in these circumstances; most of the short walk can be followed, but from a different starting point.

Of all the landscapes encountered in this book, that around Minerve is the driest and most Mediterranean in character.

CATHAR HISTORY: JULY 1210

After the sack of Béziers, the French army moved west to besiege the key fortress of Carcassonne. The Viscount of Carcassonne allowed the crusaders to take complete control of the town without a fight.

An enormous task still lay ahead for the French invaders. They had to quash resistance in the surrounding countryside and suppress the Cathar church in its entirety.

Some of the leading French barons were eager to return to their domains in the north. Thus Amaury appointed as long-term military chief of the crusade – and as the new Viscount of Carcassonne – a minor French noble, Simon de Montfort (father of another Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who, later in the 13th century, played a leading role in establishing the first English parliament.)

De Montfort proved to be a brilliant, ambitious and ruthless military leader of the crusade against the Cathars. In the years following the fall of Carcassonne, he almost constantly travelled around Languedoc, capturing castles, suppressing revolt and burning heretics.

Some castles surrendered without a fight (such as Villerouge-Termenès – see Section 14). Others, such was Minerve, situated on a clifftop at the junction of two river gorges some 35km northeast of Carcassonne, put up strong resistance.

Montfort and his army besieged Minerve in the summer of 1210. They bombarded it mercilessly with huge stones fired by giant catapults. A reconstruction of the most formidable of those catapults – the ‘Malvoisine’ (‘bad neighbour’) – can be seen opposite the town today. With this deadly weapon, Montfort eventually destroyed a staircase giving access to the town’s well, near the junction of the two river gorges.

Deprived of water and food, the defenders of Minerve were forced to capitulate. On 22 July, after a siege lasting more than five weeks, the crusaders’ army entered the town. About 150 Cathars who refused to renounce their faith were thrown onto the flames of a huge fire just outside the town.

Later events

Minerve castle was subsequently occupied by the French forces. Once Languedoc had been fully subdued by the French crown, the castle’s military significance declined. Time, weather and neglect then took their toll, and the fortress was finally demolished in the 17th century.

Minerve: the slender tower on the left is all that remains of the Cathar castle here

Practical Information

Access to starting points

Both walks start on the graceful, high, arched bridge which spans the Cesse gorge and which leads into Minerve village from the south. By motor vehicle, Minerve is best approached either from Carcassonne (via the D610 going towards Béziers, then north through Olonzac) or from Narbonne (via the D607 through St-Marcel-sur-Aude). Visitors’ vehicles are not allowed into Minerve village. Use the car park on the D10 near the bridge into Minerve. Alternatively, there is a higher car park to the north of the village, by the D147.

Public transport is very scarce in this area.

To undertake the short walk when water is flowing through the gorge below Minerve, travel eastwards along the D10, then turn left up a minor road to Mayranne, near (15). The walk can be started and finished there, avoiding the gorge between the ‘Malvoisine’ and Minerve.

Navigation

The first part of the long walk follows the GR77, indicated by red and white waymarks, followed by a stretch of road walking (not waymarked). After that the route is indicated by small, green metal posts (with occasional yellow painted waymarks), indicating a wider, local ‘green network’ of trails which is open to walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.

Almost the whole of the short walk is indicated by yellow waymarks. At one or two track junctions look very carefully for a waymark showing you which way to go.

Route Description – Long Walk

From the bridge leading to Minerve (1), turn away from the village and, beyond the bridge, follow a path up an embankment which lies straight ahead. At the top there is a sign for the GR77 path. Follow that sign across the road and onto a track going up the hillside opposite.

After passing a couple of buildings, the track becomes a stony path and climbs into open countryside. As the path traverses the hillside, there are splendid views back towards Minerve. The path meets a tarmacked lane (2). Continue uphill along that lane (ignore an unsurfaced track going off left). There is a fine limestone wall on your right. When the surfaced lane swings to the right, continue straight ahead onto an unsurfaced track.

Reach the top of the hill and pass alongside vineyards. Ignore a track going towards a stone building (Le Pech) on the right. Your track soon starts to descend the other side of the hill, and views far to the south suddenly appear. On a clear day, these extend right across the Corbières hills to Canigou and other Pyrenees mountains in the far distance.

Meet a tarmacked lane (3). Turn right, leaving the GR77, which continues straight ahead. Keep to this lane as it heads roughly westwards, dipping and weaving. Ignore other lanes and tracks going off to right and left – keep to the principal lane. The lane is not waymarked, but its route is obvious.

The sun sets on the scant remains of the Cathar castle in Minerve

Shortly after turning sharp right, the lane descends to meet the D10 (4). Ahead you can see the Cesse valley – a limestone gorge – snaking through the landscape from west to east. Above that is a sloping plateau (causse), entirely covered in Mediterranean scrub vegetation. In the far distance is higher ground in the direction of the Montagne Noire.

Now turn left and walk alongside the D10 for about 10min. There may not be a lot of motor traffic, but what there is could be moving quite fast, so take care. There are walkable verges alongside most stretches of this road. Occasional small green posts indicate that you are now on a local waymarked route for walkers and cyclists.

Shortly after the road – going downhill – turns to the left, turn sharp right onto a narrow tarmacked lane (5). Follow this lane for some distance. There should be very little motor traffic on it, but look out for passing vehicles. Short green posts continue to waymark your route.

The lane bends to the left and comes to a fork, with a stately stone building up on the right. Take the left fork, ignoring immediately afterwards a track going off on the left. The lane swings to the right, then passes to the left of the stately stone building (Prat Quilleran). The occupants of Prat Quilleran claim that the lane passing the front of their house is private property.

The lane passes through a cluster of impressive pine trees, then approaches buildings, Les Cigalières. Look out for old wine-pressing machines and barrels by the road, and notices in nearby vineyards telling you which types of grapes are grown. Pass to the right of those buildings.

The lane descends a little and you pass, on your right, an elaborately worked metal cross on an upturned boulder. Shortly after that, as you approach some houses, yellow waymarks tell you to turn right, off the lane onto an unsurfaced track going uphill (6). Following this track, pass to the left of a covered reservoir at the top of the hill, then swing to the left. The track becomes a path; follow this as it weaves downhill a little. Other tracks and paths go off from your path here and there, so be careful to follow the yellow waymarks (the best-trodden route). There are excellent views to the right, across the cliffs of the Cesse gorge, to the gently sloping causse plateau. A track climbing out of the gorge and up that hill marks your route a little later on.

Your path curves around the right-hand edge of a stretch of open ground, then descends to meet the D10E1 on a sharp bend (7). Turn right and follow that road as it descends, quite steeply, along the bottom of a small valley.

Where the road bends to the right, carry straight on along a track which immediately passes to the left of a car park and picnic spot. You are now walking straight towards the gorge. When you reach the top of a cliff on the edge of the gorge, the track you have been following swings to the left. Take what is initially a grass track going down on the right (8), ignoring a yellow painted cross nearby. It soon becomes a stony path, which zigzags down the side of the gorge.

Just before reaching the bottom of the gorge, pass to the right of a small stone building, an old mill, the Moulin d’Azam. Inside the Moulin d’Azam there is an old millstone lying in the sand on the floor; just outside, on the right, is another, half-buried millstone.

Cross the floor of the valley.

You will see that the lower part of some steps built into the other side of the gorge have been washed away, but you can take a stony path to the right of the steps. This path soon swings back and comes out at the top of the steps. Follow the stony path ahead, which winds steeply up the side of the gorge. The path is not dangerous, but there is a steep drop to the right, so take care.

The path soon emerges at the top of the gorge. It then becomes a wide track, climbing steadily for some distance up the hillside ahead. There is spiky, impenetrable vegetation on all sides. Ignore less well-marked tracks which occasionally go off from this one. Small green posts along the track once again show which route to follow.

You eventually reach a clearing where another track goes off to the left (9). Turn left onto that track, noting that you will shortly return to this point. Not far along that track, you will see on the left a path cutting across the scrub, which leads after a short distance to a dolmen (10). The entrance chamber faces the sun, looking towards the distant hills and mountains. A little further on, after a small dip, lies another dolmen, reached by a short path left.

From the dolmens, return to the track junction at the clearing (9), and turn left. The track you have now regained soon swings to the right. Shortly after that, at a track crossing, be careful to turn right, and head south, downhill. Once again the small green posts indicate the route to take. Another deep gorge quickly opens up on the right (ignore another track which forks to the right and starts to go down into that gorge).

Follow the track all the way downhill back towards Minerve. On a clear day the extensive view to the south is mesmerisingly beautiful. The track forks and twists at various points, but its route is always clearly indicated by the small green posts and it is generally the best-used and most obvious route. Eventually you approach some vineyards and isolated buildings. Here the track swings left, crosses a valley, then swings right. It is joined by other tracks coming from nearby buildings on both sides and becomes a tarmacked lane. After rounding a left bend, Minerve suddenly comes into view – and a superb sight it is, too.

The lane reaches the D147 (11), where you turn left. Where the road very soon bends left uphill, go straight on to cross a large car park opposite. Shortly after leaving the car park, the road you are on approaches a sharp left bend. But before going down there, you may like to take a path going alongside some pine trees on the right. After a few metres you reach the top of a very steep slope from where there is possibly the finest view of all of Minerve. The solitary stone tower (the ‘Candela’) of the fortification which sheltered the Cathars is on the left, the church stands out prominently in the centre, and below is the magnificent arched bridge across the Cesse gorge.

Return to the road and follow it as it bends to the left. It very soon swings to the right (from where, incidentally, the GR77 on the left heads north, along the side of the Brian gorge). The road then brings you back into Minerve village (1).

Route Description – Short Walk

Cross the bridge and enter the village of Minerve (1). As you do, note the Chemin de ronde running along the foot of the cliffs below the bridge. Make your way down to that path by turning right when you enter the village, then go right again a little further on. Go down some steps, which take you to the Chemin de ronde.

There, turn left. Across the valley floor, on the right, is the entrance to the first and longer of two amazing ponts naturels – ‘natural bridges’ – below Minerve.

You soon come to the point where the Brian riverbed meets that of the Cesse. You will see, just below the Chemin de ronde, the well – Puits de St-Rustique – the destruction of which by Simon de Montfort’s besieging army led to the downfall of Minerve.

Head straight across the dry riverbed and cross a footbridge, which reaches the foot of the cliff on the other side of the valley. Climb the path, which takes you to the top of cliff. When you emerge you will see, just on your left, a reconstruction of the catapult – the ‘Malvoisine’ – used in the siege of 1210 to bombard the well below (12).

One of the ponts naturels (natural bridges, or tunnels) close to Minerve through which the Cesse river runs in winter

You have an excellent view of Minerve opposite, perched on a narrow natural promontory high above the two converging riverbeds. With the valley on your left, and a vineyard on your right, walk along the track past the Malvoisine. After a short distance, branch left where the track forks. Continue on this track for some distance as it runs close to the valley’s eastern clifftop, with Minerve sitting impressively on the cliff opposite.

Where the track starts to veer away from the valley, take a careful step or two to the left to peer over the edge of the cliff (13). The depth of the valley, with its nearly sheer limestone cliffs, is striking.