AMB Cote d'Azur

We now progressed to Carcassonne for the night, dining in the Bistro Florian on Place Carnot. Carcassonne’s center, also know as La Ville Basse, or Lower City with its renowned grid-layout of streets is impressively historic and atmospheric. Along with the other part of Carcassonne, La Cite, the city attracts a lot of tourism.

Naturally we visited la Cité again enjoying its obvious historic past combined with its ever-present lure to tourism. Afterwards we took the autoroute heading towards the west, exiting at Bram. We ambled alongside the Canal du Midi at times, passing two vast fields of red poppies – breath-taking! – and another look at Castelnaudary. The countryside in this region really is lovely. After a morning coffee in Castelnaudary, we headed north to Revel. Revel stands out in a class of its own: Its octagonal shape and original grid street pattern is nearly unique in France as a perfect example of a bastide (a fortified town constructed in the south-west of France during the 100 Years' War, much like La Ville Basse of Carcassonne). At the heart of the town the market square is bordered by medieval houses with galleries under the first floors. In the centre of the square a large tiled roof, supported by a forest of ancient oak pillars and beams, is topped by a belfry, once a watchtower. It is well known in the region for an excellent Saturday market.

The next town, Soual, towards Castres, is as attractive as Revel with good but less expensive housing. Beautiful, undulating countryside, somewhat reminiscent of Devonshire, lies along the route between the two towns, with small hills in the distance. We side-tracked into Saïx, on the outskirts of Castres; a town that looked deceptively smaller than it is and which illicited an uninspiring first impression. However, surrounded by hills it offers great potential, taking into account its closeness to beautiful Castres (7 kms). Castres deserves a visit, above all for the houses along the Agout river – a very pretty stretch of houses that overhang the river and many of which were once home to the leather tanneries, the ‘peyrats’ (weavers) and the cloth-dying industries. It has been a center for the woollen trade since the 14th century, continuing the tradition today, being the leading center in France for carded wool and after Roubaix-Tourcoing the second most prominent center for the woollen industry.

The town also has narrow streets to explore, with a general buzz of activity. It is a laid-back, self-confident town that was home to Jean Jaurès, the founder of Socialism. There are many references to this political genius throughout the town. Its worthy museums include the Musée Goya (housing its well-known print ‘Los Caprichos’) and another place of interest is the immaculately laid-out gardens (of box and yew hedges) at the Bishop’s Palace.

Heading out of Castres one is spoiled for choice between the Sidobre region, the Lacaune mountains and the Montagne Noire. We ventured towards the Montagne Noire through Ausillon and Mazamet, both highly industrial towns nestled against the Montagne Noire, past a ‘Base de Loisirs’ on the D118, literally descending towards Carcassonne. In the process one crosses from the department of the Tarn into the Aude. Cuxac-Cabardes is situated along the route, a very French town on the edge of the coastal plane north of Carcassonne, with a lot of new housing development and village life at the foot of the mountain range. Worth exploring, along with other hamlets such as Villardonnel – the vineyards of Cabardis bordering onto the man throughfare – and into Villegailhenc or Villemoustaussou. As we gradually approached Carcassonne we came upon one of the flights of locks on the Canal du Midi, and stopped off to watch boats being locked through: one up and three down.

We returned to Carcassone on a quiet Sunday evening with only one café terrace still open on one of the main squares in La Bastide St-Louis (ie La Ville Basse, or Lower City). La Cité was more populated and we had a lovely meal at the Auberge de Plo. The following day we took another look at Trèbes and its attractive location on the Canal du Midi, considering its useful proximity to Carcassonne. Thereafter we revisited Olonzac and concluded the same as on our first trip: too much new-build, built too near each other, and small gardens. Houses on the town’s outskirts were the exception.

Villadagne is better and nicer with larger, modern homes and larger gardens. The surrounding hills drop down into Narbonne.

At this juncture of our trip we were beginning to feel a bit bum-weary of the car and gave ourselves the day off to spend once again on Narbonne Plage, a bright, modern and fairly characterless seaside resort with full complement of seaside amusements. To our huge disappointment the weather did not cooperate and, although the skies were blue and it was bright and sunny, a very cool north westerly wind blew the sand across the beach. Nevertheless, we braved the winds by installing ourselves against the beach wall and thus managed to slightly tan our sallow, winter skins.

Relaxed by the change of itinerary we headed off in the car once more for another look at Clermont l’Herault. We availed ourselves of the autoroute to fast track north of Béziers and drove through the villages of Boujon sur Libron, Espondeilhan, and Pouzolles.