Following in the footsteps of the Cathars across the Pyrenees

By Manuel Meyer May 24, 2011, 3:07 GMT

Berga, Spain - In the Middle Ages, the Cathars of southern France were forced to escape religious persecution by fleeing across the Pyrenees into Catalonia.

The Albigensian Crusade against the movement, whose members called themselves 'Bons Hommes', meaning 'Good Men' or 'Good Christians' but were considered a dangerously heretical sect, was carried out by knights from northern France and Germany on the orders of Pope Innocent III.

Today, pilgrims and hikers follow in the footsteps of the first 200 Cathars who fled the Crusaders by taking the same 220-kilometre-long route from the French medieval town of Foix over the Pyrenees and through deep valleys and picturesque villages to Berga in Spain.

The Cami dels Bons Homes or Chemin des Bonshommes (The Route of the Cathars) takes 12 days to complete on foot. The two-day trek to Montsegur, one of the most famous Cathar strongholds, ends with a steep climb up a rocky path from the tiny village to the fortress ruins.

The experience of the Cathars at Montsegur is indicative of the persecution that the movement suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church as a dualist religion that believed the world had been created by a deity identified with Satan, and that the human spirit was a prisoner in his evil world.

On March 16, 1244, around 250 men, women and children were burnt at the stake at the base of the mountain following a harrowing ten-month siege. A cross stands at the location in memory of the massacre.

The route continues through the dramatic rock scenery of the Gorges de la Frau, where vertical rock pinnacles ascend to a height of 250 metres, to the village of Comus on the Plateau de Sault.

The mountainous section of the journey includes a walk through spruce and pine forests followed by stops at beautiful mountain villages such as Ascou and Orlu before finally resting for the night at L'Hospitalet on the border with Andorra.

There is a sense of loneliness in the Campcardos valley with its perfectly manicured pastures, meadows and lakes before reaching the Portella Blanca D'Andorra, the highest point of the journey at a height of 2,519 metres, where a granite plinth marks the border between France, Andorra and Spain.

Perched on a promontory over the Rio Segre, the town of Bellver de Cerdanya in the Catalan province of Lleida once offered sanctuary to the fleeing Cathars.

The town with its Gothic church of Sant Jaume has preserved its slate-roof and fieldstone Pyrenean architecture more successfully than many of the Cerdanya's larger towns.

The Cadi-Moixero Natural Park, which was set up in 1983, straddles Bergueda, Alt Urgell and Cerdanya while the villages of Greixer and Baga inspire with their bridges, terraces, arched porticoes and 9th century churches.

Many Cathars settled in Baga where there is an exhibition about the Middle Ages and the Cathars in the town's palace.

A great place to stay is the Moli del Caso, a restored 14th century watermill where the country house owners offer vegetarian meals made from local produce and which are eaten with wooden spoons by candlelight.

Cathar festivals with hikes, food, theatre shows, markets and dancing are held in Prullans, Solsona, Josa del Cadi, Bellver and Berga during the months of July and August.

The route passes the famous Pedraforca mountain before reaching the mountain village of Gosol, home to a castle ruin dating from the 11th century where Count Pinos gave the Cathars refuge.

The mountain walk continues from Gasol for several hours before arriving at the Sanctuary of Queralt in Berga where the route ends.

The present sanctuary stands on the top of a 1,200m-high mountain and was built in the 18th century but the Madonna statue dates from four hundred years earlier.

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