We drove right across the bottom of France, stopping to see friends in Toulouse we had not seen for many years. 

Fred is now 82 years old, and had originally helped us when we first arrived in France 40 years ago, diving to clear our boat anchor in St Valery en Caux, Normandy.  We’d not seen him for almost 20 years. 

His two girls, Sandrine and Sophie were only 3 and 6 then, now they have children aged 10 to 17! Here they are with their husbands, Herve and Pierrot

Sandrine just had enough time to give us a rapid tour of TOULOUSE Cathedral, founded Circa 1060!

  We learnt later on that it used to be One of the main religious centres for the CATHAR religious group, who had their own Bishops and Archbishops.

 Next day we took the small roads which led to 12th and 13th Century castles in the Pyrenean foothills, which were destroyed when they were used as refuges for the CATHARS.  This is a religious group which occupied most of the area called 'LANGUEDOC' in France, coming from the Eastern areas close to India. They believed in Heaven and Hell and the God Almighty, but had not converted to Christianity.  In 1213-1250 period the King of France, egged on by the Pope decided to rid himself of these 'HERETICS' as they were later called, and managed to lay siege to the castles and get them out with the help of Simon de Montfort, (related to William the Conqueror, who had won England in the Battle of Hastings). So thousands of these people were all burnt on the stake, like Joan of Arc, for the sake of acquiring the land which their castles ruled over.  To be close up to these castles makes you realise just how difficult their lives must have been, trying to survive on mountaintops with not access to water or food for months on end whilst under siege.  Now they are spectacular, these old ruined castles built of the same stone carved out of the mountain top upon which they had been precariously set.

The Town and Castle of Foix

Beaucastle Village below its castle

Rockefixade Castle