Day 19 - Cité de Carcassonne en prend trois 🎬

Ciry of Carcasonne - take three! 🎬
We made it this time! Up and out, sat nav done 'properly' , we made it to the correct side of Carcasonne with its citadel, La Cité, and its numerous watchtowers and double-walled fortifications. The first walls were built in Roman times and work continued over the centuries with a castle being built within the walls in the 12th century. Its all very 'Game of Thrones' and impressive even if it is crawling with tourists and kids swinging wooden swords, wearing plastic helmets. We wandered around cutting down all the side streets to try and get off the main thoroughfare, finding little shops and tiny cafes as we explored.














The church, as you can see was very impressive. It was too hot to eat anything cooked. We settled on  salads at a nice small corner cafe at the junction of 2 cobbled streets then later wander into another cafe for coffee and cake to finish the day as the temperature started to peak at 29 degC and we still had to find somewhere to stop for the night!




About 50 miles north of Carcassonne is the town of Mazemate and another CamperCarpark for the night. 

You climb high up into the hills and then down into the valley heading for the river but not before you get a glance of something which is just over the hill from the camperstop...... 


The temperature was still in the 20's by the time we had set up, cooked and eat when Jill uttered the words I knew were coming .... "are we going to go to it?"
With 2 hrs of daylight left we started up the steep rocky path that leads from the picnic area near the entreance to the site.


Eventually, very hot and sweaty the end was in sight...

The aerial footbridge over the river  Arnette was opened to the public in December 2018 and swings 70 meters above the void. Its 140 meters long and connects Mazamet with the small medieval village of Hautpoul; and yes, it swings when you walk over it 🥴. 



It was a great end to a great day even if it was a bit of a trek up to the bridge - about 300 feet of ascent, twisting back and forth up the hillside. Going back down was actually a bit slower than going up with it being steep and still a bit muddy in parts, always under the canopy of the trees; we were well soaked when we got to the van. I topped up the fresh water tank with another 20lt of water and fired up the boiler. We showered using the little wet room and slept well dispite the heat of the night 😴





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