Shipshape

We needed a day out, and S's idea was to visit the Cathar castle of Peyrepertuse, which we haven't visited for at least 20 years. It was a lovely sunny and breezy day, perfect conditions. 

The castle is 60 km from home, but it took close to an hour and a half to get there across the high Corbières ... you can't hurry along these roads and the views were beautiful. We stopped to watch a couple of large raptors that we couldn't identify.

Getting up to the castle was a bit uncomfortable ... narrow path, lots of people, and it's stuffy hiking in a mask. But once we reached it there was space to spread out. Fantastic views, although it was a bit hazy. The castle merges into the ridge of rock it's on; this is the view of the bottom part from the top one. This upper part used to be accessible only via a flight of incredibly dodgy and exposed steps, not to be attempted on a windy day (which is practically every day up here), but they've spent a lot on improving access since we were last there.

We got back to the car at about 1:15 and decided we'd be in time to grab a late lunch in Cucugnan. But first we stopped to pick up a couple of hitchhikers. Yes, I know this is not very Covid-sensible, but we'd seen them in the castle and they were only hitching down to the village at the bottom of the hill, a 5-minute drive. We all put our masks on and I opened the window so the aircon wouldn't circulate our air around the car.

We got to Cucugnan at about 1:45 and hastened around the streets trying to find a restaurant that was open and not full. We just made it to the Auberge de Cucugnan on the dot of 2 pm, saving us from contemplating pizza at the local cafe. Lunch was fine if unexciting, standards presented in a fancy way. 

We reflected on the gentrification of the Corbières; Cucugnan has had a hyperactive young mayor for the last 15 years, who was determined to turn it into a tourist hub, trading on its proximity to the castle of Quéribus. Now it's quite chichi and has half a dozen decent restaurants and a theatre with a show based on the story of the Curé de Cucugnan. Duilhac, the village at the foot of Peyrepertuse, has a bunch of snackbars all advertising steak and chips.

Before leaving Cucugnan we went to the mill to buy flour. Sadly all they had was a lone bag of freshly milled spelt flour, so I'm glad we didn't make a special trip. Then we took a different route home, aiming to use a couple of roads we haven't been along before. It was actually quicker than the outward trip despite getting stuck behind an artic carrying a bulldozer on an otherwise deserted single track road over a pass. Even on roads big enough to have white lines down the middle you're unlikely to see more than a dozen cars an hour, so this was a little unexpected. Beautiful deserted scenery, gorgeous late afternoon light, and the bonus of a roe deer leaping across the road in front of us.