In 1243 the catholic inquisition was in full swing and the Cathars were being persecuted and hunted down, those that refused to renounce their beliefs were summarily burnt at the stake. In Occitania at the time - an area making up the south of France if you draw a line across from Bordeaux - the Cathar religion was widespread and there are many, many Cathar towns, villages and châteaus to visit now. Montsegur was famous and probably the final nail in the Cathars religion when it was besieged for 10 months from 1243 to 1244. At the end of the siege those that renounced their religion were released, those that refused were burnt at the stake on a pyre set up at the foot of the mountain that the château was on, there are loads of articles on this on the web - Occitan; Cathars; and Montsegur. Note having done some more research myself the current château is "Montsegur III"; "Montsegur II" the Cathar stronghold having been completely pulled down after the siege!!!
Anyway the trip itself took about an hour and a half to get there passing through Palmiers (in my head it is stuck as Pam Ayres!) and the Foix and a 2.5km tunnel through the mountain - I was amazed to find that half way through the dash display was still showing the blackberry having two bars of signal! Then a twisty mountain road with 180 degree hairpins as you slowly ascend to the the 3000ft of Montsegur. Once in the car park and looking up to the château, I didn't worry to much... oops! So I had prepared well with my camera rucksack so I had my different lenses, and also stuffed in there - just in case! - were, thermal leggings and top (ex RAF stuff excellent) the fleece liner for the ski jacket, chocolate, water, tuna mayo sandwiches on lovely rustic bread, batteries, torch (you never know!). So about half way up and huffing and puffing like some 60 a day chain smoker - had a chest cold that is slow to shift - I had to sit and rest as all the old and young passed me by on the way up and down. You get to pay halfway up for the pleasure as well! Having had some of the rations (should have had more than a coffee for breakfast!) I started up again and it was painful legs felt like lead, compensated for by some amazing views and the need to concentrate on not tumbling over the precipitous edge and bouncing several hundred feet to certain doom... anyway eventually reached the top and what a relief, at least it was mainly flat and although the legs were feeling it I spent plenty of time just wandering, taking pictures and then found a great spot to sit and have lunch.
After ignoring the "interdit" on the steps to the ramparts - well worth the risk - and to my mind a damn site safer than a lot of the path on the way up! I decided to head back down, well that seemed fairly easy and lots of Bonjours along the way, the hardest one to bare though was to the - looked about 75 - old gentleman complete with hat and smart long coat and walking cane who you would have thought was off to the shops for the paper the ease he was going up - I manned up and stood aside to let him up and he observed I looked "fatigué" thanks gramps!
Eventually got down to the field where I assume the massacre would have taken place, a horrible thought and so many echoes of what goes on today with religions trying to force their views on people.
The legs had now achieved jelly status and I swear it is why people where smiling as they passed, I thought maybe they were looking like the cartoon ones that don't have knees and just stretch and wobble all over the place!
A quick drive down to the village and a visit to the free museum - after that climb I would think so! Fascinating stuff and filled with finds dating back to Roman times, but with the emphasis on the Cathar period, one thing I noticed around the village - and I have seen around Toulouse - was the number of houses that were flying the Occitan flag and the cars that had the stickers on bonnets, doors and boots.
The photos can be seen either at this page on Facebook, or here in the Picasa Web album (higher res I think).
A few of my favourite shots from the day though.
