Minerve and the Minervois: The Cathar Village of 1210, the Natural Bridges and the Olives of Bize
Occitanie, France
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Minerve and the Minervois: The Cathar Village of 1210, the Natural Bridges and the Olives of Bize
225 + 100 XP
Minerve, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, stands on a spur where the gorges of the Cesse and the Briant meet. The crusaders sat down before it in mid-June 1210 and broke it in five weeks: four trebuchets pounded the walls, and one of them, the Malevoisine — the bad neighbour — smashed the fortified ramp down to the town's only well. When Guilhem de Minerve surrendered, Simon de Montfort offered the Cathar perfects their lives if they abjured; all but three women refused, and about 140 of them went to the first pyre of the Albigensian Crusade. Below the village the Cesse has cut two natural tunnels through the limestone, the 228 m Pont Grand and the 126 m Pont Petit, and at Bize-Minervois the Oulibo cooperative is the world's biggest producer of Lucques olives.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk down into the dry bed of the Cesse and go right through the Pont Grand, 228 m of natural tunnel, then carry on upstream to the 126 m Pont Petit
2
of 4
Follow the fortified ramp down to the puits Saint-Rustique, the well the Malevoisine cut the town off from, and look back up at walls that are almost all later than 1210 — the siege left very little standing
3
of 4
Cross the 115 m viaduct built in 1912 that finally gave Minerve a road in — 40 m above the Cesse and only 2.50 m wide — then taste a Minervois in the village at the other end of it
4
of 4
Take the guided tour at the Oulibo at Bize-Minervois, taste a Lucques du Languedoc against a black olive from the same mill, and buy the one you preferred
Walk down into the dry bed of the Cesse and go right through the Pont Grand, 228 m of natural tunnel, then carry on upstream to the 126 m Pont Petit
Follow the fortified ramp down to the puits Saint-Rustique, the well the Malevoisine cut the town off from, and look back up at walls that are almost all later than 1210 — the siege left very little standing
Cross the 115 m viaduct built in 1912 that finally gave Minerve a road in — 40 m above the Cesse and only 2.50 m wide — then taste a Minervois in the village at the other end of it
Take the guided tour at the Oulibo at Bize-Minervois, taste a Lucques du Languedoc against a black olive from the same mill, and buy the one you preferred
Before you go
The only way into Minerve is a 2.50 m wide viaduct and there is no parking inside the village — leave the van in the car park on the plateau and walk in. The walk to the natural bridges goes down into the bed of the Cesse, which is normally dry in summer but must not be entered when rain is forecast or the river is running. More than 300,000 people a year come here, so go early or out of season. The Oulibo tour at Bize-Minervois must be booked, takes about an hour and a half and costs around 7 euros an adult; it opens every day except 25 December and 1 January.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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