Queribus and Peyrepertuse are very near each other, just north of Maud on the D117. We had our first afternoon visiting these two. We left late morning and it took about an hour and a half to drive there from Carcassonne (going south to Limoux and turning left at Quillan towards Perpignan). You`ll be amazed by the scenery on the way there.

Queribus doesn`t look that exciting from the outside, but once you make your way up the mountain to the castle there`s alot more going on inside, including a spectacular column, arches, and tower. The views from all of the Cathar castles are amazing.

When researching for this trip, I`d read that Peyrepertuse was the most impressive ruin, and they were right. Quite amazing, like an offset three-tiered wedding cake stuck on top of a boat-shaped mountain. On the very top level we were slightly above the clouds that were rolling through, and they went through ourselves as well. So we had our heads in the clouds that afternoon!

The next day those same clouds were chucking the rain down, but we went to Montsegur anyway. One person on the net said it wasn`t worth the 30 minute climb, but I`m not so sure. If you don`t know and aren`t interested in the history of the place then probably not....and you`d also think Stonehenge is just a bunch of big rocks ruining the countryside. I didn`t know how I`d feel about it, but when we got there and braved some of the rain to walk up to the monument for the 225 Cathars who were burned at the stake there, the power of the place really hit me. It`s not about the rocks - it`s about the events that happened there - so the `Rough Guides` book to Languedoc was right. It`s a powerful place because of the events and your imagination. Unfortunately for us it was raining too much for us to get to the castle itself, but it was worth the long drive just to be there for me. Wish we had bought an umbrella though.