{"id":2059,"date":"2013-10-20T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinblack.com\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2014-11-22T15:24:56","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T15:24:56","slug":"four-days-on-the-sentier-cathare-cathar-way-day-3-cubieres-sur-cinoble-duilhac-sous-peyrepertuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/2013\/10\/four-days-on-the-sentier-cathare-cathar-way-day-3-cubieres-sur-cinoble-duilhac-sous-peyrepertuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Four days on the Sentier Cathare (Cathar Way) – Day 3: Cubi\u00e8res-sur-Cinoble – Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite another night of waking up every 90 minutes to inflate the mattress, I slept well and was up and ready to roll by 6.30am.<\/p>\n

The path climbed quickly and looking back I was greeted with wonderful views of Bugarach. \u00a0There was a weather front brewing up over the mountain which sent a refreshingly cool breeze my way. \u00a0That was fine with me as long as I was able to keep abreast of the weather.<\/p>\n

\"Bugarach
Bugarach weather front<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The path took me high above the Gorges de Galamus.<\/p>\n

\"Above
Above the Gorge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a perfect morning for hiking.<\/p>\n

\"On
On the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So perfect that I had to stop for a cup of tea and enjoy the mountain solitude for a while.<\/p>\n

\"Tea
Tea break on the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I finally reached the summit of the hill.<\/p>\n

\"At
At the top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Agly Valley and mount Canigou were laid out before me…<\/p>\n

\"Valley
Agly valley and Canigou<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I continued on the spine of the hills, the views were pretty spectacular.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View from the top<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then came my first Cathar castle,\u00a0Peyrepertuse. \u00a0The castle is built into the mountainside itself and is hard to spot at first. \u00a0If you look carefully at the photo below you’ll see the castle walls to the right.<\/p>\n

\"Peyrepertuse\"
Peyrepertuse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My photo doesn’t do the castle any justice, so here’s one I borred from the\u00a0Chateau de Peyrepertuse entry in Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Peyrepertuse\"
Peyrepertuse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I then began the slow descent into the valley towards my bed for the night in\u00a0Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse.<\/p>\n

It was very hot as I completed the final five miles, I was tempted to make the detour up the castle but the 90 minute round trip wasn’t appetising, I was hot and bothered, with no water supplies left and a growing headache.<\/p>\n

I found the Gite and after some complex negotiations in French, Spanish and English my dorm and bed were found. \u00a0I drank a lot of water, made a cuppa tea and took a long nap.<\/p>\n

\"The
The gite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really, really liked\u00a0Duilhac.<\/p>\n

The council-run g\u00eete d \u00e9tape communal<\/a>\u00a0(well, it was more like a youth hostel than a B&B) was cheap (10 euros), clean and friendly (the only downside being the church next door that ran its bell on the hour, every hour, all through the night!).<\/p>\n

The bar I visited that night cooked a magnificent steak and chips, and served up a hearty local red, all for 12 euros. \u00a0There is a shop for buying lovely croissants and fresh veg and fruit. Perfect.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Duilhac town square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the church bell waking me up every now and again (sigh…) I slept well.<\/p>\n

See day four<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite another night of waking up every 90 minutes to inflate the mattress, I slept well and was up and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,15],"tags":[39,32,99,92],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059"}],"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=2059"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2858,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions\/2858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinblack.com\/oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}