There are several lovely places to visit in the Cabardes area of France which is only a short drive from Carcassonne. We had decided we would like to visit the Cubservies Cascade and see what else we could find on the way there.
So from Carcassonne you head towards Mazamet on the D118 then you turn onto the D101 where you see the signs for Lastours and Mas Cabardes.
Now you have a number of different choices, the caves at Limousis, the chateaus of Lastours, not one but four, or you can carry on up the hill through Lastours towards ‘Les Ilhes Cabardes’. Which is exactly what we did and then we kept on going until we got to the D9 and headed towards Roquefere.
So far so good, we were intending to have a look around Roquefere but there was some sort of event going on and the main road through the village was blocked. We got diverted off to the left and before we realised it we were on a very narrow route where, with all the activity, it was very tricky to turn and there was nowhere to park. At that point we decided it was better to just keep going and save Roquefere for another day, our main objective was after all to visit the Cubservies cascade.
The next 7 kilometers or so were a little hairy, very narrow, very twisty and very few passing places if you met something coming the other way. Fortunately for us the only car that did come the other way passed us when we stopped on the outskirts of the little village of ‘Saint Julien’. Quite lucky really but we were, it felt, driving up into the heavens and we still hadn’t arrived.
Finally, it seemed to take a long time, we arrived at Cubservies and immediately spotted a sign for the cascade. So at least it wasn’t going to be difficult to find.
It actually turned out to be very easy indeed. There was a viewing point for the cascade right on the edge of the village and this time a few handy parking spaces where we could park quite easily. Have to say as well, it was worth it, the cascade is 90m high and it was a lovely sunny day so not only could we get the view of the cascade itself we were also able to wander a little further into the village and get a magnificent view right back down the valley we had just driven up. The village itself, albeit quite small, was very picturesque and certainly helped to make the trip worthwhile. We now really were in the heavens, almost at the top of the ‘Montagne Noire’.
Having enjoyed the views of the cascade and the valley below we pressed on, made a quick stop at the ‘Saint Sernin’ chapel, a Romanesque building from the 11th & 12th centuries and then arrived at a junction of the D1009. We decided to turn left towards ‘Les Martys’ and then just followed our noses until we were back on the D118, the main route between Mazamet and Carcassonne.
Where you come out is only just down the road from the ‘Lac Des Montagnes’ so we decided that would be a very nice place to visit before turning back towards Carcassonne and the route home. We had driven past the lake before but never been in to see it, so it was a nice way to end the trip and have a walk around the edge of the lake for a little way (it’s a big lake).
Then we were back on the D118 heading towards Carcassonne, retracing our steps a little in the process, and before we knew it we were in Cuxac, home to a very nice English run restaurant The Hungry Fox which we can personally recommend for some excellent food and friendly service.
Then it was a right turn towards St Denis & Saissac beyond, passing by the ‘Le Moulin à Papier de Brousses’ (to be the subject of a future post) and the famous Saissac Chateau.
For us that was nearly home, just a quick run down the hill through St Papoul and on to our home village of Issel. All in all a pretty good day out.