Guided walking
holidays
in Aude, Languedoc Roussillon, South West France
Seven Day Tour
Our seven day tour offers the greatest flexibility to
our walking groups. We have some 60 walks from which to choose. Of course
not all these walks are available during the year as the climate changes
from winter to spring but that still leaves us with a possible 40 to 45
walks any time of the year.
Day 1, 2 and 7 are fixed but for the days in between
we offer the 'Walkers Choice' where you can, as a group, look through our
selection of walks and with the help of your guide select the walks you
would most like to do.
Alternatively, below we have given some suggested
walks which you can do and have been selected specifically to show the
diversity and history of our region.
Itinerary.
Day 1 (Saturday) - Arrival and settle in followed your three course evening meal at 20:00hrs.
Day 2 (Sunday) - Breakfast followed by an informal chat by our guide
about equipment, safety and the days walk. Today's walk will be local and
classed as easy to medium and will take about 3h 15min excluding stops and
lunch. Your lunch will be at one of the restaurants in Quillan (cost not
included) hence you will not be issued with a packed lunch. Afterwards you
will have an hours free time to explore the town before assembling at the
railway station for your return walk following the banks of the river Aude. This
walk covers a varied level of terrain and not only gives you the opportunity
to get a feel for the local countryside, do a little local shopping for
those things you forgot, but also enables our guide to assess the strengths
and weaknesses of the group. On your return there will be a short
debrief, time to clean up, prep for tomorrow followed by dinner.
Days 3 (Monday) - Walkers Choice
Suggested Walk
- Breakfast, collect pack lunches, assemble for
transportation to walks. Today's walks, there are two of them (Axat
map routes 11 and 12), are based
around the Chateau of Puilaurens. The first walk is a circumnavigation of
the base of the Chateau (classed as very easy and is about 1hr) before
walking up to visit the Chateau after
which you will have your packed lunch. After lunch you will be setting out
on a 3hr Easy+ walk which will give you spectacular views of the Chateau and
the valley. On completion you will return home for a quick debrief and
chat about tomorrow, clean up and prep before dinner.
Day 4 (Tuesday) - Walkers Choice
Suggested
Walk - Today's walks will be firstly at Rouquefort de Sault (Axat
map route 6) in the morning followed by (packed) lunch and a nice easy walk through the high level
pastures at Escouloubre (Axat map route 8)
visiting the village which was formally a spa resort. On your return there will be
a short debrief followed by dinner then packing for your departure.
Day 5
(Wednesday) - Walkers Choice
Suggested Walk - Two coastal walks today with the opportunity to see some
wildlife and in particular the Pink Flamingos. The first walk is through and
arund the ancient salt walks near Bages (Aude route 37)
followed by a picnic lunch.
After Lunch we will drive on to the Marine Cemetery at Auzile (Aude
map route 39) where there are 26 cenotaphs dating back to 1844. There
are also empty tombs representing the French sailors that died in such
places as Syria, Hong Kong and Columbia. We then continue across the
headland before cutting across country back to the car park.
Debrief and dinner on our return.
Day 6 (Thursday) - Walkers Choice
Suggested
Walk - Today's suggestion is two historic walks of around 3 hours each. The
first (Aude map route 9) is by way of the famous
Rennes-le-Chateau where the mystery will be explained to you (entrance fees
are not included). There is an excellent bookshop here which some may find
of interest.
After lunch we take a short drive before starting the Dinosaurs walk (Aude
map route 11) during the walk we stop off at the dinosaurs museum and
the hat makers museum.
Day 7
(Friday) - Walkers Choice
Suggested Walk - We suggest Bugarach
known as the sacred mountain (Aude map route 7).
There is quite a bit of mystery surrounding this place but for us it is the
views. The mountain it's self shows how the Pyrenees were actually formed as
the tectonic plates pushed against each other this large lump of rock was
force out to the surface. This is a 7 hour walk with a climb of 625M
(2,050ft) to the summit at 1,230M (4,035ft). We will have our lunch on the
top.
Debrief and dinner on our return.
Day 8 (Saturday) - No packed lunch today as you
will be dining in Carcassonne (not included). After breakfast your luggage
will be collected and we will depart for the ancient Cité of
Carcassonne (Aude map route 15) now defined as a World Heritage site, it's a 'must see' place
to visit when in the area. You
will have a guided walk around the Cité with the opportunity to do a little
shopping followed by lunch
before meeting at the railway station (we will also bring your luggage at
this point) in the main town for your drive to the
airport at 13:15hrs.
Pricing 2007
1,040 Euros (Approx £699) per person based on two sharing (flights are not included).
