The best cycling routes around Villesèquelande

nice tour

The historic city of Carcassonne, unlike the rest, is definitely worth a visit. The best thing to do is to walk around on foot to see everything!

"Carcassonne, located in the south of France between Montpellier and Toulouse, was founded in the 6th century BC by Iberian Celts. The Romans turned the hill into a castle by building a protective wall. In the 5th century, the Visigoths conquered the city, and in the 8th century the Arabs, who drove them out in 759. In the 12th century, Count Trencavel built a count's castle on the highest point of the hill on parts of the Roman city wall. Carcassonne became a central element in the defense system on France's border with Aragon. In the middle of the 13th century, the dilapidated wall was protected by a second outer city wall." With these words, the website for the television series "Treasures of the World - Heritage of Humanity" describes the city that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 15-minute film is available – but only in German – in the ARD media library under the following link => https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/schaetze-der-welt/carcassonne-frankreich-folge-125/swr/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS83MTc1NzUw

A "chemin de halage", in German "treidelpfad", which runs alongside the waterway right next to the bed of the river or canal, was an indispensable part of the transport infrastructure in earlier times. Before ships could move using motor power, horses ran along the bank and pulled the ship against the current. This was called "treideln", and this is how the "treidelpfads" got their name, which has been passed down to this day. Where these paths directly on the bank have been preserved, they are often used by hikers and cyclists.

On the other side of the canal from the stele, there is a nice rest area. One of those on the long route from Castelnaudry to Carcassonne.

Very pretty and oval shaped 😉

quiet shaded site possibility of restoring

Source Wikipedia: The name of the municipality is probably derived from the Latin Eburomagus, a settlement founded by the Romans around 60 BC, of which it is not known whether it only spread out in the surrounding valleys or also extended onto the hill itself. Various small finds from the Gallo-Roman period (4th - 6th centuries) have also been made in the area around the town. In the 12th century, the new Bram was built on a hill with a completely regular circular structure (circulade) consisting of three streets with adjacent houses and a central square in the middle, on which the town's church was soon built. There was only one city gate in the east; the whole complex therefore had a clear defensive character. During this time, most of Bram's residents converted to the Cathar faith; This brought the town to the attention of the crusaders of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229), and in 1210 it was taken by Simon de Montfort's troops after a three-day siege. While most of the residents returned to the bosom of the Roman Church and went unpunished, he had the noses and upper lips of 100 stubborn heretics cut off and their eyes gouged out (not entirely correct in Wiki, the residents were blinded); he left one eye so that he could escort the others to Lastours, a good 30 kilometers away, the crusaders' next target. Nothing is known about the time of the Hundred Years' War (1347-1463) and the religious unrest of the 16th century. In any case, the town experienced its economic heyday in the 17th century - the Canal du Midi was built nearby and new houses were now also built outside the city walls.