click to the pics

We just wanted to find out if our dog Jade -called „Sause“ would be happy to travel with us in the Land Rover.
„Oceansausen“…. cause Sause has never seen the ocean and we have never seen Carcassonne and then there also is the wine….. How can you do this in five days?
With a trip through: OCCITANIA
In 5 stages we did about 1‘680 miles

Stage 1:
From home on the FWY – Narbonne-Sud, road N° D 6009 direction Perpignan – D 611 into the hills of Corbières (wine county)

Stage 2:
Through the hills to Carcassonne – D112 into the Minervois wine county and the Montagne Noire (black mountains) – Mazamet – Albi – south of Figeac into the Val de Lot till St-Cirq-Lapopie

Stage3:
Along the Lot river – Cahors – Crayssac – D9 – D8 – Fumuel – Eymet (Dordogne) – via D16 – into the Bergerac wine county and its villages Monestier, Thénac, Saussignac –
St. Foy-la-Grande – FWY via Bordeaux to Carcans-Plage (Oceanside)

Stage 4:
FWY to St-Foy-la-Grande – Montbazillac – Bergérac – along the Dordogne river passing the „Périgord Noire“ – Beynac-et-Gazenac – Souillac – FWY A20 north – A89 east – Eglétons till Domaine du Mialaret (Camping)

Stage 5:
straight home on the FWY

Places of interest:

• Carcassonne in the morning before the tourists arrive. There is no problem to park with over height off roaders or campers on the parkings outside the old town (only 5 min. walking distance)
• The „black mountains“ – prolongation of the Cevennes mountains west. Very narrow roads!
• Along the Lot river between Figeac and Fumuel. (D9 sometimes max. 6.5 ft wide – D8 the bridges over the Lot river are very narrow and there is a weight limit. NO problem with the Land Rover – bigger YES!)
• Along the Dordogne river and the Périgord Noir. This region was not unknown to us and we didn‘t visit Sarlat this time. But Sarlat is a place to see, specially the old town with its gas lights at night and its excellent restaurants and bars. This town kicks you back into the middle age!

Carcans-Plage:
off season = Restaurants closed. Beach empty!
Camping ok – no fires outside – no barbecue = at this time of the year with sunny weather means cold kitchen……
„Oceansausen“: Sause thought she could eat sand like snow…..

Conclusion:
We come back to Occitania, heading south, passing the „land of Cathars with its castles“ criss-cross through the „Basque Country“ destination Biarriz .