Cycling in Search
of the Cathars

Contents

    Map of Languedoc

    Introduction

    Chapter One

    Our arrival in southwest France - an unhappy first night - Chris losses the bike tickets - Sunshine and Villemoustaussou - On the relativity of distance in France - We meet a Danish expert on the Cathars.

    Chapter Two

    The journey to Rennes-les-Bains - The charm of the wind and the weather(!) - Discovering the Valley of God - Keeping food insect free - Things that go bump in the night - The legends of Rennes-le-Chateau - The Crusade against the Cathars.

    Chapter Three

    On the vicissitudes of French weather in Spring - The cheapness of some French hotels - Eating, drinking and camping on one hundred francs a day - We meet Lucien who tells us some more about the Cathars.

    Chapter Four

    Our first visit to Montsegur - The siege and massacre of 1244 - Elaine falls off her bike - Problems with dogs.

    Chapter Five

    Foix - A few days resting in a mountain house, still without twentieth century comforts - Esclarmonde and women Cathares - Elaine joins a cycle race.

    Chapter Six

    The caves of Tarascon - The legend of Pyrene of the Pyrenees - Problems visiting a Cathar museum - Heretical lives in summer pastures - The ways of medieval Cathar shepherds.

    Chapter Seven

    Visiting Cathar chateaux - The sunshine of the coast - A lecture in Perpignan - An American student tells us about Gnosticism - Chris loses his bank cards - The spoiling of the sea shores.

    Chapter Eight

    We feel homesick - We are forced to squat by noisy neighbours - More wind - We meet an English nun - Miracles at Fanjeaux - Medieval Mirepoix - Election night at Chataigne

    Chapter Nine

    More on weather - A night at an inn - Montferrier - The Summer Solstice at Montsegur - The Cathar Flame of Tolerance.

    Chapter Ten

    We leave the mountains - On seeking the perfect spot - Peace on the Canal du Midi - Assassination of Inquisitors - On taking bikes on French trains.

    Chapter Eleven

    Toulouse, the capital of the heretics - Besieged and resisting - The death of Simon de Montfort - Life today in the Rose Red City.

    Chapter Twelve

    Cordes in the Heavens - Albi of the Albigensians - More resistance to the Inquisition - Some cycling philosophy - Toulouse Lautrec - French attitudes to cyclists - Mazamet's amazing museum - Caravans.

    Chapter Thirteen

    Crossing the Black Mountains - Caught in a storm with a puncture and no pump - Helped by a knight errant - Wet welcome at a Dutch campsite - The heat and cicadas of the Corbieres - Le Chemin de Belibaste - Camping sauvage.

    Chapter Fourteen

    The hot spring at Rennes-les-Bains - Back at Lavaldieu - Reincarnated Cathars - Seeking shelter from the storm again - The works of Arthur Guirdham and David Wood.

    Chapter Fifteen

    Meeting People.

    Conclusion

    Lourdes - Cathar influences on Catholicism - The political dimension - The mystery of missing library books - Homeward.

    Bibliography