The Cathar Way - A Walker's Guidebook

The Cathar Way is a waymarked trail linking historic castles associated with the ill-fated 13th-century Cathar heresy. Guide to this 250km (two-week) route through the foothills of the Pyrenees in the Languedoc region of southern France, from the Mediterranean to Foix. Beautiful and historic area.

The sketch maps in this book offer only an indication of the key features along the trail, and it is strongly recommended that those who tackle the Sentier Cathare (or who walk anywhere in the Cathar region) also equip themselves with the relevant 1:25,000 maps published by the Institut Géographique National (IGN). These excellent maps contain very detailed topographical information.

The Sentier Cathare is shown on these maps, and although the route has been altered in a few places since the maps were published, overall this concerns only a relatively small proportion of the whole, and diversions are always clearly waymarked on the ground.

The 1:25,000 maps needed for each stage of the Sentier Cathare and its various alternative sections are given in the Route Summary Table and in the individual route description sections. There are eight in total and they are as follows:
2547OT (Durban-Corbières/Leucate)
2447OT (Tuchan)
2348ET (Prades/St-Paul-de-Fenouillet)
2347OT (Quillan)
2248ET (Axat/Quérigut/Gorges de l'Aude)
2247OT (Lavelanet)
2148ET (Ax-les-Thermes)
2147ET (Foix/Tarascon-sur-Ariège).

All the 1:25,000 maps that cover the route of the Sentier Cathare show long-distance paths, local walking routes and a lot of other information of value to tourists, and all are into at least their second edition. You can tell which edition a particular copy of a map is by looking at the number in brackets in the title of map on the spine of the map cover. For example, the second edition of the Quillan map (dated 2000) has on the cover spine '2347 OT Quillan (2)'. If you buy maps in shops in France, check that you get the latest edition – copies of older editions may still be mixed up with copies of newer editions on the shops' shelves. The newer editions of all 1:25,000 maps are being marketed as Cartes de Randonnée (walkers' maps).

A grid of numbered kilometre squares covers the 1:25,000 maps for the Sentier Cathare, and they can be used with global positioning devices (a GPS symbol is shown on the front of these maps).

Many newsagents, bookshops and supermarkets in France sell IGN maps, but prices vary from shop to shop. A 1:25,000 map costs around €10 (about £7).

The publisher Rando éditions has produced a series of 1:50,000 maps covering the French Pyrenees and their northern foothills. They are also called Cartes de randonnées, and they use IGN cartography. In this series, Number 9, Montségur, covers an area between Quillan and Foix, and thus includes the western half of the Sentier Cathare. Its price is around €10.

For route planning purposes, IGN's series of 1:100,000 maps (the Cartes topographiques Top 100 series, or Cartes de promenade) is very helpful. Numbers 71 (St-Gaudens /Andorre) and 72 (Béziers Perpignan) cover most of Cathar castle country, including the whole route of the Sentier Cathare.

IGN's 1:250,000 maps (their Cartes régionales series) are designed for route planning by road. Cathar castle country is covered by Midi-Pyrénées (R16) and Languedoc-Roussillon (R17).

In France, the 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 maps currently cost around €5 each.

IGN's website is at www.ign.fr, and is in French only. Their maps and other products can be bought via that website, but with postage to Britain and the cost of currency transfer, the final prices seem to be a little higher than those charged by British suppliers of the same maps.

British suppliers include:
Stanfords, 12–14 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9LP, te1 020 7836 1321, sales@stanfords.co.uk, www.stanfords.co.uk.
The Map Shop, 15 High Street, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcs WR8 OHJ, te1 01684 593146 (Freephone 0800 085 4080), themapshop@btinternet.com, www.themapshop.co.uk.