|
|
My First Foray into Cathar Country Belatedly Illustrated in 2003 |
|
La Grasse (click on the name on the map at this site) is yet another Medieval city, with a Franciscan
Abbey with parts dating from the 8th century but most of it from the 12th and later.
After settling into a hotel and as sunset approached I hurried and walked
through the town and looked at its old abbey:
Near the abbey is a swimming hole where a low dam raises the river level:
Walking away from the abbey area, I needed to cross the river to get into the southern hills:
Here is a view back into town from the bridge over the river:
Here is a view of the town from across the river.
Then I headed up the hill:
Views from the trail were quite nice:
A local spider seemed to be quite at home in these hills:
After a while, I ran into this sign telling me I was walking away from La Grasse:
Soon after the sign, the sun was seriously setting:
By the time the sun was down my watch said I had gained 600 feet. I was very near the summit of the ridge, but it wasn't rising very quickly and I was quite hot after 50 minutes of steep trails, at 81 degrees, and with moist air (wonderful, dramatic patches of valley fog in much of the region in the morning, so the air was not dry). When the sun went down I turned back so as to be off the trail at pitch-dark.
The next morning I set off for Peyrepertuse.