Brousse le Château

Travelled : 128km
Stay: Pont de Salars- Aire, free parking and services N44.27810 E2.72837
Visited: Brousse le Château, Broquies

Another day of scattered showers, so we continued on the back roads through Lacaune and menhir country.

 Our main destination was to one of the 'pretty villages of France' - Brousse le Chateau. 

It did not disappoint with its 9th century castle perched on a rocky spur at the confluence of the Tarn and Alrance rivers and the stone dwellings surrounding it. 

The 15th century church 

View of the village from the castle 

 Got to have a door knock of the day.

Great use of of scrap metal.

 Middle Ages telephone box!

The 1366 romanesque bridge completed the picture. 

At this time if year the castle can only be visited in the afternoon so after our explorations we went to have a look at Broquies and parked in the lovely aire which had all services for free including electricity. 

 After a cooked lunch of spaghetti marinara we walked around the small village to help the digestion and read about its history on the information boards located at various points. 

Some buildings had been well renovated, while others still needed tender loving care and lots of work!

Old grape press ...The areas great vineyards had been decimated by disease in1956.

 By now it was 3pm but the weather had not improved so we decided to keep heading north passing a few lakes along the way which may have been tempting if the weather was hot and finally stopping in Pont de Salars. We managed between showers to have a quick walk through the village and we were once again amazed at the well equipped tourist office in such a small place, but we think that the nearby lakes would attract many visitors here in the summer.

Back roads to La Salvetat

Travelled : 119km
Stay:La Salvetat sur Agout - free parking,  no services. N43.60083 E2.70122
Visited: Caunes Minervois,  St. Pons de Thomieres

After leaving Limoux we circled around Carcassonne (visited in 2013) and drove along the D620 to Caunes Minervois.  

Beautiful fields of poppies.

There are heaps of places to visit around here but you can only decided to take one road. Our ultimate destination is North to Clermont Ferrari by Thursday. We parked in the bus parking area in Caunes Minervois, got a map from the tourist office and wandered through this medieval village with its narrow, twisting streets. There were red/pink marble (from the nearby quarry) sculptures scattered around with the centre being the great 8th century abbey. 

The Abbey.

Medieval buildings now a hotel.

Today's door knocker..

Sculptures from the local marble.

View of the town

Our next stop was the lookout at the Roc Suzadou on the way to  St.Pons de Thomieres.  We then walked around this village, again with an ancient history based on the Abbey. We visited the cathedral with its rare enclosed choir. 

Of course the local marble was well used everywhere, even in the curbs! 

The bridge joining the 2 towns...back in the day.

There were lots of buildings under disrepair.

View of the town from the tower.

The source of the Jaur River.

We walked up to the old defense tower and also found the Source of the Jaur River from one of the largest underground lakes in Europe. From here we took the D907 over a couple of cols to La Salvetat sur Agout. We arrived in the rain but it soon cleared up and after a rest we went off for an explore. Since the 12th century the village was built on a rock to prevent attacks. Near by there is a lake popular for water sports and the area is also well known for its naturally carbonated mineral water. Just a small note on the 'fuel crisis'...It doesn't appear an issue here in the South except for the prices being overly high as you get closer to a major town. We are filling up every 150km or so keeping topped up just in case we do encounter issues as we travel northwards.

Huge pieces of slate covering the outer walls...

Pity this shop isn't open tomorrow 

Inside of the church that looks like it has just been refurbished.