I am a big whiny baby. Many of the roads in the Aude, the ones that go to the most spectacular sites such as ruined fortresses on mountaintops, are very twisty. Twisty and steep. Twisty, steep, and extremely narrow. Twisty, steep, extremely narrow, and just not worth it. One bit of road in particular, which hadn't looked so bad on the map, put me in a flop sweat, and I was ramming my foot down on the pretend brake on the passenger's side the entire time. And moaning a little, since I'm a big fat baby.
That road was on the way to Nébias, population 228. We had a map for a short hike with a labyrinth of stones, and we made our way up the path, which first wound through someone's farm. Heather was blooming, and the path was covered in chamomile and marigolds.
I was having sciatica again so the others went ahead while I perched on a mossy rock and read. Every so often some children would tear through the little glade I was in, and shout, "Bonjour Madame!" which pleased me immensely. From the reports, the labyrinth was wonderful, hard to navigate in a good way, and apparently exhausting.
With gigantic black clouds barrelling toward us, we scampered back to Nébias to look for a café and some coffee and chocolat. The owner was Vietnamese, a former electrical engineer, his wife Indian, and they raised their children in both France and China. And my feeling, listening to his story, is that we were kindred spirits -- we feel at home when we are strangers somewhere.
That's Rennes-Le-Chateau in the photo below (at the top of a very twisty narrow road). Crazy monks. The Aude is dotted with chateaux, many of them ruins or built on top of what the Cathars had built before being stomped to smithereens.
We even got to stay in one, the Chateau des Ducs de Joyeuse, a 16th century chateau without a particularly bloody history. The transformation to hotel did not diminish its medievalness at all, and it was set just beside the river Aude which was jewel green and rushing from spring rains.
I want to come back to the Aude for about a month someday, with camping equipment and inflatable kayaks. And blinders and short-acting tranquilizers.
