I decided to walk back through Bram after leaving the hotel. I had read that it has the largest and best preserved circular center of any village in Europe. I’d walked around the outside of the old village centre yesterday. Bram, like so many other towns in the area was originally a Roman settlement, serving the road between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Via Aquitania. The current old town was built in the 12th century around its castle and church, in larger and larger circles. It was also the centre of Cathar belief in the 13th century, before the town was besieged during the crusades and its inhabitants brutally murdered.
The church is at the centre of the village and for once, the doors were open. I took a look around at what was a very nice interior.
I walked back to the bridge over the canal and started today’s 26km trek to Carcassonne. Today was relatively heavy going, probably due to yesterday’s 36km. It was still windy, although mostly in gusts rather than a constant wind and the sun and clouds fought for dominance – the clouds won in the morning, the sun in the afternoon, but the temperatures didn’t reach yesterday’s heights.
Even the canal wasn’t the same today – there wasn’t a single boat. It turned out that the canal was closed for all traffic today, being May 1st and International Labour Day. Given it is a holiday in France, Thursday, and many take the Friday off, I had expected at least the paths to be busy. But that was hardly the case either, a number of couples were cycling, but very few were out for a walk.
All in all it was very quiet. I did have a chat with a few people. An older man who told me that the fish were massive in the canal – the largest caught was over 2m. He told me that his grandchild had caught a 25kg fish, ca. 1m in size. I stopped up and spoke with a guy who was trying to fix a puncture to the back wheel of his bike. He also had broken baggage rack. He was very desolate saying it had already taken him longer than expected to get this far because of the head wind and now this. He must have fixed it, because he cycled past me an hour or so later.
I stopped for a coffee and a crepe 5km before Carcassonne at one of the converted lock houses. It was only open as it also has a room with 12 beds where a group of Columbian cyclists were staying the night. He had just let them in as I came by. He had decided to stay closed today because he knew that when it was so cold, hardly anybody passed by. I was sitting there in shorts a t-shirt. But he was right, there were a few cyclists and no walkers. He told me that the canal was closed for boats as it was 1st May, but was open again tomorrow (the old guy I had met earlier, had told me that this part of the canal was closed until the end of May!).
I walked the last 5km to my hotel. Carcassonne doesn’t do much out of the canal, only a small one person dirt track leads into the city.
The town centre was pretty quiet, a few people sitting in the cafes on the square, but certainly not overrun. I crossed the old bridge and found my hotel just after the bridge. The medieval town is spectacular, not least from a distance, sitting on a hill, its wall and towers intact. Carcassonne has the longest city wall in Europe, and the oldest sections were built by the Romans in the 3rd century AD.
After a shower I walked up the medieval city and whilst not surprised by the number of tourists, was surprised that everything within the walls was for tourists. During my first visit in 1976, much of the medieval town was still inhabited by locals. Even when I returned in the 90’s and 00’s there was a mix if tourism and locals. No longer. The lady at reception recalled that there are less than 30 people living within the walls.
There was a race on the ramparts and the many stairs up and down. They looked tired. Tourists were barred from walking along the ramparts, which must have been annoying for some. I also visit the Basilica within the walls, a very imposing building.
I had dinner at one of the restaurants recommended by the man who checked me in. It was within the walls and was ok. It was busy and they turned a lot of people away. I walked back to the hotel and walked up to a terrace on the hotel’s roof, where there was a spectacular view of the medieval town by night.
