Hiking des canalettes

We were up at 7:30am and we had a big drive ahead of us today so after coffee it was time to roll out of Carcasonne.
Our first stop was Decathlon in Carcasonne to Christmas presents for people and some shorts for us both for our upcoming Africa trip. Then it was 2 miles down the road to Lidl to do food shopping. After that it was another 1 mile trip to Lê, Clercs to fill up with fuel and then get 2 litres of oil to top Wanda up.
All of this took a couple of hours and by the time we actually left the vicinity of Carcasonne it had gone 11 o clock. Far later than I wanted and we still had a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us.
We decided to take the toll roads to our next stop as the mileage was the same but it was 50 mins quicker and we arrived at the parking area of Site des canalettes just after 1pm.
This marks a significant milestone in our trip as this is our final planned excursion, we have completed our list and after this our stops will be whatever else we find on the way home. For this final hike we needed it not to be raining which is why I really wanted to get here while the weather was good.
After a quick cup of tea we left Wanda at 2pm and headed down a gravel track following signs that said Les Cañoles. We now know that means canyons.
I knew that this was a gorge walk but Ellie didn’t and I wanted to keep it a surprise until we got there but I did get a little lost and we had to backtrack and start the hike again.
We marched through woods until the large rocks started appearing either side of us and then the ground started sloping down. Then the rocks formed walls and we realised we were in a canyon and it got tighter and narrower until we couldn’t walk any further. At this point we could have shimmied up the wall and into the next section but Ellie didn’t want to do that so we turned around and headed to the next canyon.
The next canyon was much deeper and longer and this one came to an abrupt end in total darkness. Then we had to turn around and head back to Wanda.
Thanks to me getting lost I’d added an extra 4km to our hike and an extra hour and by the time we got back to Wanda it was 4:45pm, the sun was staring to set and we still had to find a sleeping spot. Luckily l had marked one off first thing this morning and it was 20 miles and 35 minutes away and we arrived in Alzon at 5:20pm just as the sun was setting.
Alzon has a free Motorhome area with a dump station and there were already 2 motorhomes here and we parked in between them. This looks like a beautiful little village but I don’t think we’re going to get a chance to explore.Leia mais