Cruising Cathar Country – Ride 1 Carcassonne Crusade motorcycle tour

Join us on Ride 1 of our Carcassonne Crusade 🏍️ — a 220 km loop through Cathar country, where Southern France’s epic roads and medieval history collide. In this ride, we cruise from Carcassonne to Puivert, Montségur, Foix, and Mirepoix, with scenic stops, castle views, and charming villages along the way.

This route takes you deep into the Pyrenean foothills, combining legendary Cathar strongholds with twisty roads, relaxed lunch breaks, and unforgettable views. Get ready for another Quazy Ride full of stories, curves and adventure!

🎒 Download the FREE E-book & GPX files for this ride at
👉 https://www.quazyrides.com/tours/carcassonne-crusade

📺 Other videos in this series:
▶️ What to do in Carcassonne (on foot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGPkmhRSW2k
▶️ Where to stay in Carcassonne (motorbike parking tips): to follow soon
▶️ Carcassonne Crusade – Ride 2: to follow soon
▶️ Carcassonne Crusade – Ride 3: to follow soon

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:58 Ride Overview
04:24 Chateau de Puivert – Troubadours & Cathar Ties
07:57 Col de Montségur – A View into History
11:38 Foix – Lunch & City Walk
05:15 Riding to Mirepoix – Colourful Half-Timbered Charm
12:44 Final Drink in Mirepoix & Back to Carcassonne
15:45 Wrap-Up

🛣️ Ride Details:
Distance: 220 km | Difficulty: 60/100 | Ride time: Full day with stops
Includes views of: Chateau de Puivert, Montségur, Chateau de Foix, Mirepoix
Highlights: Castles, Cathar history, medieval villages, twisties, great views

💬 Planning to ride here? Already been? Drop us a comment and share your experience!
📸 Don’t forget to tag us using #QuazyRides – we love seeing your adventures!

👍 Like this video if you enjoyed the ride
🔔 Subscribe to our channel and hit the bell for more motorcycle tours across Europe

This is where history and breathtaking 
landscape come together in the heart of the Cathar country. Welcome to another 
QUAZY RIDE and this video is on ride 1 of our Carcasson Crusade motorcycle tour 
and this view on the Chateau de Montségur on the Col de Montségur is only 1 of the stops 
where history and beauty come together. Hi Muriel and Johan here, your online guides to 
the ultimate European motorcycle adventures. And the combination of our Ebooks, ready to 
ride GPX files and these video guides are your ticket to your own epic journeys. And 
you know what the best part is: an QUAZY RIDE adventure is always on us. We are very 
excited to take you on our ride 1 of our Carcasson Crusade motorcycle tour and the ride 
is around 220 km, 135 miles and it is taking us through those well supposed to be very picturesque 
landscape Souththeast, Southwest, Southwest of Carcasson going into the foothills of the Pyrenees. 
And the ride should be very nice and along the way we should also be discovering 
some history with regards to the Cathars and the Crusades on our stops. So join 
us for another adventure, so let’s go QUAZY. Our first stop of this ride is here at Chateau de Puivert 
and mind you the last bit is very narrow with 2 steep narrow hairpins. So if you don’t want 
to go up there, stay in town for a coffee. Puivert is historically linked to the tradition of troubadours, 
poets and musicians that were very important in the Catharc culture. And this chateau is said to 
be a gathering place for troubadours where they could perform and exchange their compositions. 
And therefore this suggests that Puivert had well some level of tolerance or even support of the 
Cathar culture. The Cathars faced persecution during the Albigensian crusade, a campaign 
launched by the Catholic Church in the early 13th century to eliminate heresy. And the Cathars 
entrenched themselves in numerous fortresses. And although this Chateau de Puivert itself did not play 
a major role in the crusade its association with Cathars and the presence of troubadours may 
have contributed to its significance during the turbulent period. Unfortunately now as you can 
see they’re working on a dragon exposition so the chateau is closed. The chateau is well known 
for its massive tower that – if it’s open – you can climb up to have an impressive view on the 
surroundings and the museum has some instruments of troubadors. And although we could only find a 
website in French we will share the link in the ebook that you can download together with the 
GPX file from our website via your free account. So we have just passed the town of Montségur 
down there and we are continuing our ride to climb up the Col de Montségur and we added 
a quick stop up there because we should be getting a pretty view on the Chateau de Montségur. And Montségut and its chateau hold a special place in the Cathar history because this was 
a true and the very last Cathar stronghold. In 1244 the Chateau was the site of a 
dramatic siege in the Crusade because after months of resistance the Cathars surrendered
and many of them were burned at the stake for refusing to renounce their beliefs. And now 
the castle stands as a somber remembrance of this. We’ve added a parking in Foix for our lunch 
break because it’s known for its medieval streets, so it’s nice to have a little walk and we 
are sure that you will find a nice spot for lunch. As we could already see when we 
were approaching Foix also Foix has a chateau on the hill looming over 
the town. And while the chateau played a key role during the crusade it later 
became the residence of the counts of Foix. So we are getting to our last stop of this 
ride here in Mirepoix as it is supposed to be a town with medieval character and some nice 
half-timbered houses and especially a nice town square. So we thought this was a perfect stop 
for our last stop before we get back to Carcasson. And we have added this parking so it’s 
easy to get to the place at the right. The town’s history is also tied to the Cathar 
history as this town was destroyed in the early 13th century during the crusade but luckily 
rebuilt in this beautiful style and now for us here to enjoy during well a drink at one 
of the nice terraces or having an ice cream. We’re back in Carcasson so this is the end of ride 
1 of the Carcasson Crusade motorcycle tour and thank you so much for joining us on this journey 
through well history and stunning landscapes and we hope that with the GPX file that you can 
download from the website and the tips in this video that you will be able to enjoy this ride as 
much as we did. And if you want some tips on what to do in Carcasson we have a separate video on that 
and that will be in the middle of your screen so you can keep going QUAZY now. Well and if you like 
this video, don’t want to miss future videos and want to help us share the fun of road tripping 
you know what to do: please hit that like button, subscribe to the channel and hit the bell as well 
and then we will see you on our next QUAZY RIDE.