{"id":1976,"date":"2013-10-20T18:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T18:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=1976"},"modified":"2014-11-07T17:03:28","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T17:03:28","slug":"four-days-on-the-sentier-cathare-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2013\/10\/four-days-on-the-sentier-cathare-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Four days on the Sentier Cathare (Cathar Way) – Day 1: Saint Julia de Bec – Bugarach"},"content":{"rendered":"

I began the hike from the pretty village of Saint Julia-de-Bec. The previous night had seen a fierce thunderstorm and the morning was bright and fresh, perfect weather to start off on a hike.<\/p>\n

\"Just
Just outside St Julia de Bec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a mile or so of (very quiet) road walking I joined a track and gained a little height.<\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking westwards towards St Julia de Bec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Fields and mountains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I arrived at the village of St Just and drank greedily from the public water fountain. The water was cold and tasted delicious. \u00a0I filled my bottles and sat down for a while watching nothing much happen in the sleepy village square.<\/p>\n

\"Drinking
Drinking fountain at St Just<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I passed families of pig boars , the young ones scattering at my approach.<\/p>\n

\"Pig
Pig boar families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the next village, Bezu, I sat in the inside porch of the church to take cover from the ever increasing heat of the sun.<\/p>\n

\"Le
Le Bezu church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mountain
Mountain view from Le Bezu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then, turning a corner, I saw for the first time the mountain of Bugarach, my destination for the day.<\/p>\n

\"My
The first view of Bugarach, my destination and camp for the night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I found a nice spot to brew up a cuppa tea.<\/p>\n

\"Tea
Tea break<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of hours later I arrived at the village of Bugarach. \u00a0I walked on down to the campsite only to find it fully booked for the night. \u00a0Ah…never mind, I’d pitch up for a wild camp on the mountainside instead.<\/p>\n

\"Bugarach\"
Bugarach mountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before heading off towards the mountain, I made my way down to the village lake and took a refreshing dip in the cool water.<\/p>\n

\"Swimming
Swimming and tea at Bugarach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And made another cuppa tea, obviously.<\/p>\n

\"On
On Bugarach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent some time looking for a good pitch on Bugarach mountain.<\/p>\n

\"Bugarach
Bugarach sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I set up camp, watched the sun set into the west and then fixed dinner: tinned cassoulet, surprisingly tasty as it goes. \u00a0The only thing missing was some wine.<\/p>\n

\"Cassoulet
Cassoulet for supper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I went off to sleep only to wake an hour later on hard ground. Yes, my ultra-light sleeping matt had sprung a leak. \u00a0I blew it up again and went back to sleep.<\/p>\n

This performance was repeated on the hour, every hour, until 6am. \u00a0Ah well, at least I managed to get back to sleep almost immediately each time (and I got to see the fantastic starry night sky!).<\/p>\n

See day two<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I began the hike from the pretty village of Saint Julia-de-Bec. The previous night had seen a fierce thunderstorm and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,11],"tags":[39,32,140,99,40],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1976"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2140,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1976\/revisions\/2140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}