Walking Stay Dancing Friends April 2, 2022 1 week



Hello,We are starting this hiking year with a group of 7 people for 1 week from April 2, 2022 to April 9, 2022.This is a group of dancer friends from Pontoise/Conflans Ste Honorine.They were interested in a week of hiking around Carcassonne.We agree on a visit to the city of Carcassonne on Saturday afternoon and then 5 day hikes with a rest day.The rest day is scheduled on Wednesday but can change depending on the weather.The hikers will sleep and have breakfast at La Cour Carrée.I will prepare picnics for the days of hiking.I will prepare 5 dinners,2 evenings being free.On the menu of the 1st evening : Salmon tartar, Macaroni with duck confit, Chocolate mousse

1st day - La grotte du maquis - Roc de l'aigle - 8.3kms, 416m+, 2h29



The first stage is a warm-up to estimate the level of the group.
We start from Trassanel, in the Montagne Noire and walk on the historical path of our WW2 resistance fighters and climb the Roc de l'Aigle, located at 700m altitude.
The scenery is mineral, of white limestone whose subsoil is an immense underground network with numerous caves of which the famous chasm of Cabrespine.
We cross karstic zones, based on limestone, a tormented landscape and pastoral zones, surrounded by green oaks.
From the Roc de l'Aigle, we have a magnificent view of the village of Cabrespine, rich in iron mines, vineyards, chestnut trees, olive trees, rye, potatoes and sheep.
On the evening menu: Mushroom soup, fillet of beef and its crushed potatoes with truffles, birthday cake

2nd day - Mayronnes Panoramic - 14.3kms, 633m+, 4h29



Change of mountainous massif for this 2nd day. We go in Corbières, in Mayronnes, passage of the GR36.Le May de Mayronnes specifies us of the transhumance of the sheep.The vine made flee the sheep.We will be able to see appearing of the golden eagles, the peregrine falcons, desmans of the Pyrenees.We are in a Mediterranean climate.The path climbs much in first part in the underwoods before arriving at the plate of Serre de la Pène.The landscape is imposing on Corbières.We go down again then in the underwoods to direct ourselves on the path sculpture.We finish the day in LagrasseA menu of the evening: Salad of breasts in the endivees, Cassoulet, Tiramisu

3rd day - Around the castles of Lastours - 18.1kms, 762m+, 2h49



What a beautiful hike today.The 4 castles of Lastours. Cathar castles. We will turn around and admire them with breathtaking views.The subsoil is rich in metal ores. The many old mine shafts that pierce the sides of the mountain testify to the intense mining activities that developed here in the past.On the menu for the evening: Restaurant

Day 4 - Rest Day



On the menu for the evening: Gourmet salad with foie gras, sautéed magrets and potatoes, chocolate fondants

Day 5 - Lac du Lampy - 18.6kms, 163m+, 4h52



A more flat day for this resumption to calm the tendons and the articulations.Direction the north-west and the lake of Lampy, source of food as many points of water, of the Canal du Midi. Pierre-Paul Riquet in the 17th century under Louis XIV undertook this work.Our hike is very zen, punctuated with the current of water. Peaceful and pleasant.Stop on the way back to the village of the book, in MontolieuOn the menu of the evening: Salad of gizzards, Blanquette of shrimps, Barklawa

6th day - La Carrière du Roy and the castle of Citou - 20.6kms, 690m+, 5h10



if Caunes-Minervois lives today essentially from tourism thanks to its abbey, one should not forget that at the beginning of the XIXth century, 400 people still worked there at the extraction and the size of the white marble zebra of red. Louis XIV decorated with it the great Trianon of Versailles.A beautiful stroll between the rivers of the Argent Double and the Cros, until the castle of Citou then return through the Capitelles, small constructions out of dry stones sheltering the vine growers and the shepherds of Minervois, until the career of the Roy, relating the history of the marble