Walking in the Cathar Region: Cathar Castles of South-West France

The guide offers 30 day walks based on the once strategically important castles that dominate the foothills of the Pyrenees. Routes from 16 centres, including Beziers, Minerve, Lastours, Foix, Roquefixade, Lordat, Montailloe, Puivert, Montsegur, Usson, Puilaurens, and Rennes. Each walk has as its focal point a castle or other location associated with Cathar history (mostly the 13th century). Summaries of the historical connections of each location with the Cathar period are given, and together these relate the story of the downfall of the Cathar Church, from the massacre in Beziers in 1209 to the siege at Montsegur in 1244, which ended with the burning alive of over 200 believers who refused to renounce their Cathar faith. Reprinted with updates in 2014.