Rugged road to the past

As we drive southeast of this restored medieval village on the narrow, two-lane D611, triangular signs with images of falling black boulders line the route.

I'm never quite sure how to guard against these rock slides but the signs do cause me to grip the wheel of our grey, puttering Ford Fiesta with both hands.

This is windblown, hardscrabble country with outcroppings of crumbling rock and trickling canyon creeks reminiscent of the dry eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies.

Although France has a dozen times more people than Colorado in a land mass less than twice its size, here in the Aude region of Languedoc-Roussillon, you can drive for miles and see little sign of life other than patches of thirsty vineyard.

Riding shotgun, my wife, Kathy, pores over the region's road map. “I love these little roads with no centre line,'' she says.We turn west on to D14 and the land gets hillier, more forested, more dramatic.

This is the land where, in the first half of the 13th century, Christian crusaders massacred members of a breakaway religious group called the Cathars, and where, during the four centuries that followed, French garrisons guarded against invasions from the south.

Chosen the longest routeToday we are on the trail of the Cathars, scrambling up hillsides to massive monuments dating back nearly 1,000 years.

We've chosen the longest of eight routes of the Cathar Daisy (search “Carcassonne area'' at www.carcassonne.org), excellent tours for those seeking castles other than the magnificent but back-lit Disneyesque reconstruction of Carcassonne's citadel, the largest historic fortress in Europe.
It was in Carcassonne, in 1209, that a besieged citizenry surrendered to knights of what is known as the First Cathar, or Albigensian, Crusade.

There is no backlighting — no special effects — on the twisting, narrow roads away from town; just hairpin turns and more signs warning of falling rock.

But we feel more at home in this rugged land of unreconstructed stone than within the tourist-filled confines of the contemporary citadel — rebuilt in the 19th century to the detailed but less historically accurate — designs of the famous architect Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. Our journey seems fittingly austere.

After all, drawn from the Greek word for “pure ones'', the Cathar Church had rebelled against what it considered the decadence of the Roman Catholic clergy. Its leaders, according to our Michelin guide, embraced “poverty, chastity, patience and humility''.

Quéribus CastleBetween the cities of Carcassonne and Toulouse in the 12th century, the church thrived.

But the Crusades followed, the Cathars making their last stand in 1255 at Quéribus Castle, our first stop.

Our goal for the day is to cover about 120 miles and visit three fortresses used first as Cathar refuges and then as French border outposts until a 1659 treaty with Spain ceded Roussillon to France.

But we're coming to realise that the twisting roads and the rugged paths to each fortification make even that modest distance ambitious.

It is easy to see why Quéribus, perched on a rocky outcropping 2,400 feet above sea level, was the Cathars' final refuge.

Today, rope banisters aid the ascent. After 150 steps, I lose my breath and the count.

It's a hazy day so we can just make out the shadow of the Pyrenees mountains to the south, where contemporary France meets Spain.

But my imagination is clear as I look out at the rock and scrub surroundings: This would have been a harsh and lonely place to live — and die — in the Middle Ages.

Peyrepertuse CastleThe second stop on our journey is the more sprawling, two-level Peyrepertuse Castle, which fell to the Crusaders in 1240.

Larger and somewhat less austere, its parapets look down on green vineyards and hillsides dotted with tall, yellow wildflowers.

An estimated 10,000 tourists flocked here from August 11 to 14 for a medieval festival, complete with sword fights, archery, falconers and music.

Even without festivities to take part in, we leave with heavy legs after climbing dozens more steps.

But this is no time to relax. Kathy, I learn, has planned an even scarier route back.

As we approach the Gorges de Galamus on D7, she giggles and reads from our guidebook: “an impressive gorge overhanging an abyss''.

I watch the road signs: Two upside-down triangles show a red exclamation point against a yellow backdrop.

Then comes the sign warning of violent winds and the one forbidding trucks and campers.

We pass a gap in the stone retaining wall. Someone, it seems, didn't complete the turn. And no wonder.

The next mile or so is as much like spelunking as driving. Arches of blasted-out rock form a low crescent over the road's single lane — one with cars moving in both directions.

Puilaurens CastleThankfully our last stop is the gentler, almost alpine-like ruins of Puilaurens Castle, its path strewn with flowers, its surroundings hillsides covered with fir forests.

And best of all, the road from there back to our apartment seems practically a superhighway — two lanes with a white line painted down the middle.

I crawl into bed early to prepare myself better: Who knows what route my map nut will come up with tomorrow.

Go there... Languedoc-Roussillon ... From the UAE

One of the nearest airports to Languedoc-Roussillon is Toulouse.

Air France flies daily via Paris. Fare from Dh 3,910

Alitalia flies daily via Rome. Fare from Dh4,160

From Abu Dhabi

Etihad and Air France fly daily via Paris.

Fare from Dh7,510

— Information courtesy:
The Holiday Lounge by Dnata.
Ph: 04 4298576
Way to go
The Hotel Delos has doubles from E145 room only. Book through www.france.com.