A trip to Montsegur

Chateau Montsegur is one of the Cathar Castles in this part of the Languedoc. The Cathars were a Christian sect who were persecuted by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. The Cathars built their castles as a means of defence against the crusades that had been ordered by Pope Innocent and usually resulted in a siege. One such siege took place at Montsegur during 1244 and when the Cathars were eventually starved out of their hiding place, two hundred of them were burned on a pyre at the foot of the castle. Purely for being the wrong kind of Christian. Another part of their defence was the position of the castle and as you will see if you travel around this area, the Cathar Castles always appear to be on totally inaccessible outcrops of rock, which now translates into spectacular locations.
A short drive from our base near Puivert was lengthened slightly by a temporary road closure at Belesta, but within forty minutes we were at the car park, looking up at the chateau and the beautiful blue skies that surrounded it.

The path leads from the car park across the meadow where the Cathars were slaughtered in 1244. This Cathar cross commemorates the event.

A wall butterfly.

Wall butterfly feeding on a Scabious flower.

A Silver Studded Blue.

The walk then passes through a thickly wooded slope, before opening out onto rocky, limestone, dotted with grasses and low growing shrubs. This area was full of butterflies.

The walk up is quite steep, but the views get better and better as you approach the chateau ruins. After about forty minutes walking you will reach the entrance.

The walls are high and very thick, quite obviously built with defence in mind. The courtyard is quite small and it is easy to imagine how cramped it must have been with four hundred people in there under siege conditions.

A walk around the outer walls reveals fabulous and distant views all around.

Looking down into the woods and gorges of the Ariege.

This view looks out towards Mont Soularac and Mon St Barthelmy. The village of Montsegur can just be seen in the bottom left of the picture.

Around to the back of the Chateau ruins another access point has been built.

Leading into a dark chapel area, with bright light entering through the walls high above.

On the way down we were noticing the crickets leaping around, but whilst they stay still, they are increadibly well camouflaged.

This one maybe stood out a bit more. This is a Saddle Backed Bush Cricket. Quite an extraordinary looking creature.