The Alps – they’re not just for winter, they make for the most amazing summer playground too! A holiday in the French Alps in summer isn’t about taking advantage of the region’s off-season – it’s about taking advantage of the different world that’s revealed once the snow has melted…

The Alps are Europe’s longest mountain range, starting in the south of France and extending out to Vienna. For most of us the French Alps are all about snow, ski-ing and of course après-ski. But the Alps are far more than a winter ski destination – a summer visit makes for a memorable and fabulous break.

What could be better than fresh mountain air, the heavy scent of lush blossom and wild meadow flowers, blue skies reflected in calm lakes. The mountains help provide a natural barrier against clouds and rainfall – so that’s a glorious climate to go with the captivating views.  What’s not to like?

8 reasons to take a holiday in the French Alps in the summer:

1. Spectacular locations

When the warm air rolls across the mountaintops and winter snow has melted, the entire Alpine region changes. The glare of white snow is replaced by green foliage, and by June the grass is thick and swathes of wildflowers begin to carpet the landscape. The scent of blossom fills the fresh air, you’ll be moved to just stand and stare at the intense and spellbinding beauty of a summer mountain in all its colourful glory…

2. The Weather

You’re missing out if you’ve never sunbathed at the top of a mountain. Summer in the mountains tends to be hot and sunny in the lower valleys, sheltered areas can be very warm indeed but it does get chilly at high altitudes. The driest, hottest months are July and  August; September when temperatures are cooler makes for a perfect time to cycle.

3. Activities for all the family

One of the most popular activities is walking. Choose from flower-filled meadows that fill your senses with joy to serious mountain top, high-altitude ice-hikes that will get the adrenalin flowing for the most serious of mountaineers. You can be as energetic as you like – or not. A short walk with a picnic is perfect for some; a several hour hike is what others crave. Don’t feel like walking? Take a cable car or chairlift and just sit back and enjoy the views.

Whilst for some it’s two feet that appeals – for others its two wheels. Cycling in the French Alps will blow your mind. Try the Portes du Soleil region of France, where more than 300 miles of marked trails are accessible from the main centres of Morzine and Les Gets. As with walking, there’s plenty to suit all levels here from a gentle ride to some full on mountain biking

Or how about mountaineering, potholing, golf (many nursery slopes double up as golf courses during the summer) or if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, paragliding. It’s a great opportunity to indulge in your favourite extreme sports or try them for the very first time!

4. Those lakes…

We can’t not mention watersports – there are dozens of beautiful, natural lakes reflecting the blue skies and sparkling in the sun. Canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing, boating, scuba diving, swimming, even white water activities! Or you could just take a gentle, chartered boat ride for an Alpine view from a different angle. There’s not much that beats sitting around a lake and chilling in one of the amazing lakeside towns and villages such as Annecy, breath-takingly beautiful, unspoiled and vibrant.

5) It’s something different…

As most people associate the Alps with winter this is a chance to experience a different holiday from most. Summer in the mountains: swimming in clear blue lakes, trying new local cheeses, wines and gastronomy, sleeping like a baby after all that fresh air. Whether you want to chillax or try a new sport, you won’t need to mooch along like a sardine in an overfilled tin in the uncrowded French Alps in summer.

6) In fact, you can even ski if you want to

“Can you ski in France in the summer?” we’re constantly asked. Yes you can! But, we’re talking high up, early opening times, however at La Plagne, Les Deux Alpes and the Grande Motte glacier at Tignes, you’re almost certain to be able to ski even in the summer.

7) Its brilliant for families

The French Alps make for brilliant baby-friendly bolt holes. There is plenty to do for kids of all ages and chalets holidays in particular make this a real break for mums and dads too. Most chalets will supply necessary kit such as high chairs and cots. Resorts run activity clubs for kids and babysitting is easily available.  There are plenty of adventure parks and pool parks too.

8) The price…

You’ll find that visiting the Alps during the warmer months is an incredibly cost-effective way to visit the region. Many luxury chalets will cut their rates dramatically when skiing isn’t on the agenda, so you may well end up with a proper summer holiday bargain as you enjoy one of Europe’s most summer destinations.

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On a hiking tour of Cathar country in France with Spanish Steps tours, Glen Craney reaches Foix Castle which sits on top of an impressive rock and dominates the entire town of Foix. In the past access to the high Ariège river valley was controlled from here and the chateau watched over the countryside, protected by unbreachable walls.

The placement of the castle was strategically well chosen because, like the hundred or so fortress châteaux in Ariège (most in ruins today), it dates from an era of great insecurity, banditry and territorial rivalries. In addition it had to be a commanding presence in the passage through the Pyreneen chain in order to counter invasions.

There must be something in the water of the many underground streams around Bugarach. Another local village, a mere eight-mile jaunt through grazing cattle and kissing gates, is not about to relinquish its title as conspiracy capital of the world. Rennes le Chateau became a tourist magnet with the exploding popularity of the Da Vinci Code. When a local 19th century parish priest began throwing large sums of money around, the Church attributed his sudden wealth to the unlawful sale of masses. But others suspect the priest found something of incalculable value—perhaps the Ark of the Covenant, a Cathar treasure, buried Visigoth gold, or even the remains of Mary Magdalene.

A wet June snow reminded us that we were gaining altitude as we trudged northwest toward Tarascon-sur-Ariege and the white peaks of the Pyrenees. Our next destination was Niaux cave of prehistoric fame, one of the many natural underground cathedrals in the Ariege that gave refuge to heretics. Local historians have claimed that ancient hermetic teachings, hinted at in the Holy Grail legends, were preserved by the Cathars in these haunting caverns.

“From the dawn of time, early humans were drawn to Occitania for its powerful natural energies,” explained local travel operator Anneke Koremans. “The entire region is sacred.”

With our journey nearing its end, we circled back down the Ariege valley toward the ruins of Montsegur castle, the ultimate goal for many pilgrims to Occitania. On this fortified peak that became the Cathar Masada, the heretics maintained a seminary and doled out blessings and what donations of food could be spared. Hundreds of believers came here to die, carried to the top by mules at the night to avoid capture. Only a few skeletons have been found on the mount, leading some to speculate that an undiscovered necropolis may lie deep within its bowels.

Glen Craney is an award winnning author of several books including The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Albigensian Crusade, available from Amazon

Spanish Steps Website

Read Part I Hiking in Cathar Country in Languedoc-Roussillon, Montsegur, Minerve

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Hiking in France affords plenty of opportunities to get up and close and person with picturesque villages, stunning landscapes and fabulous buildings. Author Glen Craney went walking in Occitania on an escorted “Cathars, Castles and Cassoulet” hiking tour with small groups.on the trail of heretics and saints through the most amazing countryside of Cathar history…

Arriving in Montsegur

A heavy rain on the evening we arrived had turned the switchback path up the mount into a treacherous stream of mud. My fellow hikers decided to postpone their climb until the next morning, but I slogged on up the western face alone. A half-hour later, I stood three thousand feet above the valley and leaned against Montsegur’s ancient wall to catch my breath. The sun broke through dark clouds to welcome me with a hug of warmth. Maybe, I thought, the legends about mystical occurrences here were not so far-fetched.

Thousands come to Montsegur each year to remember the 220 Cathars—including a grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter—who were burned here in 1244 after a brutal nine-month siege. Terraces excavated on its slope reveal where the malnourished refugees huddled in huts while praying for a good death. Surrendering Occitan soldiers were allowed to avoid execution by offering their allegiance to Rome, but several chose to die in the fires with those whose courage they had come to admire. Legend has it that on the night before the burnings, four defenders escaped down the mount with a mysterious treasure.

On our last morning in Occitania, we walked into the reconstructed medieval city of Carcassonne, once heralded as the Paris of the South. I meandered through the old basilica of Sainte-Nazaireand was greeted by a sign announcing that the church had been home to the “Roman Catholic Cult” since 1096. Was this a clumsy English translation, I wondered, or had some unbowed Occitan docent insisted on having the last word?

On a wall of the nave, I found the famous slab that had once been part of Simon de Montfort’s tomb there, before his remains were removed north to more hospitable surroundings. No epitaph marks the spot, so I whispered one of my own, a line from Shakespeare in The Winter’s Tale that best summed up my feelings about this magical land seared by tragedy: “It is a heretic that makes the fire, not she which burns in it.”

Glen Craney is an award winning author of several books including The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Albigensian Crusade, available from Amazon

Read Part I Hiking in France on the trail of heretics and saints, Minerve, Foix Castle

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In France’s Cathar country, hikers track a lost medieval faith along castle ruins where the Inquisition’s fires once raged, author Glen Craney takes a hike in the beautiful Languedoc  Roussillon region of France and discovers picturesque villages, mysterious stories and the beauty of Occitania…

Solvitur ambulando, St. Augustine advised the perplexed. It is solved by walking.

Maybe so, but the saint’s confidence in the strolling cure surely would have been tested had he blistered his soles on the chalky causses and shrouded peaks of southwestern France. In the alluring region once known as Occitania, ramblers who love stepping back into time are finding a rewarding alternative to Spain’s popular Camino to Santiago de Compostela. Yet many return from their treks across this romantic land of troubadours and the Holy Grail still troubled by the question that drew them in the first place: Why, in the 13th century, did the Roman Catholic Church wage a war of extermination there against a sect of pacifist Christians?

Hoping to benefit from the modern revival of medieval pilgrimages, French tourism officials now encourage hikers to come quest for the answers to this question and the many others that swirl around a vanished group of ascetic vegetarians called Cathars, or the Pure Ones. Condemned as heretics, the Cathars rejected the authority of Rome and believed in reincarnation instead of Hell. They saw the world as a battleground between a benevolent God of Light and an evil Demiurge who conspired with the papacy to imprison souls in flesh.

When the Counts of Toulouse and other Occitan nobles tried to protect these religious dissidents from annihilation, the Church and the kings of France hammered them with a brutal war of terror and stole their domains during the infamous Albigensian Crusade. Today, the fiercely independent descendents of these Occitan martyrs remain proud of their rebellious heritage. Some even keep the memory of the persecution alive by reading on New Year’s Eve from the papal bull that condemned their forefathers to be hunted like wolves.

Backpackers who now hoof it up in increasing numbers to the vertiginous Cathar ruins should be grateful at least that they don’t have to skulk through dangerous forests at night as did starving fugitives eight hundred years ago. Instead, they can enjoy the well-marked Cathar Sentier (“Way”), a maintained artery of trails that stretches 150 miles from the Mediterranean coast to the castle-crowned city of Foix.

Legendary Camino guide Judy Colaneri invited me to help lead an incursion into the land of heresy for her hiking-tour company, Spanish Steps. I had last traveled to Occitania twelve years ago to research my historical novel, The Fire and the Light, about Esclarmonde de Foix, the Cathar Joan of Arc. I approached the homecoming with excitement and not a little trepidation, worrying needlessly, as it turned out, that I’d find the Pays Cathare (Cathar Country) changed for the worse by the passage of time and the increase in tourism.

Our twelve-day walking itinerary combined historical sites with the most scenic of the Sentier trails (marked on stones and trees by red and blue stripes) and the more ubiquitous GR (“grande randonnée”) trails. Many hikers avoid straying from the Sentier to take advantage of the gites and auberges that have sprung up along the way. Colaneri, however, lodges her clients for two or three nights at a time in stunning villages off the beaten path, then transports them by van to the start of the next day’s hike to avoid the constant hassle of repacking. And rather than be hamstrung by unyielding French restaurants hours, Colaneri, an accomplished chef in Aspen during the hiking off-season, serves up delicious picnic lunches on the trails with produce purchased fresh from local markets.

Our group of veteran hikers included three American couples, a lady from Toronto, and a Catholic priest stationed in Mexico. We met up near the Mediterranean coast in Béziers, a city that witnessed the start of the Cathar wars with one of Christianity’s darkest hours. In 1209, a papal army from the north demanded that the local Catholics surrender their heretic neighbors, but the tolerance-loving Biterrois refused. Enraged, the invaders stormed the walls in an orgy of slaughter that historian Stephen O’Shea called “the Guernica of the Middle Ages,” a comparison to the German Luftwaffe bombing of the Basque town in 1937. Ordered to burn the city’s cathedral with its thousands of refugees, even the bloodthirsty Crusaders hesitated, aware that more Catholic than heretic residents cowered inside. Unmoved, the papal legate reportedly insisted, “Kill them all. God will know His own.”

Today, a few stones from the original foundations that witnessed these horrors can be seen in the reconstructed cathedral of Sainte Nazaire. Modern Béziers remains a bit scruffy and singed on the edges, giving the impression of having never fully recovered from Rome’s treachery. So, anxious to get into the countryside, we strapped on our trekking poles and headed west, where the trail of the Crusaders became even more scorched.

Old Occitania is dotted with villages ravaged by Simon de Montfort, the Catholic knight most devoted to killing in God’s honor. Modern inhabitants of the Languedoc still curse the memory of this ruthless commander who gouged out the eyes of prisoners and threw women into wells. A fellow novelist told me she once made the mistake of remarking to a taxi driver in Carcassonne that her favorite historical character was the son of Montfort, Simon IV, who became a champion of England’s Parliament. The driver was so indignant that he braked to a stop and ordered the woman to get out.

On to Minerve
On to Foix Castle
On to Montsegur

Glen Craney is the award winning author of several books including The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Albigensian Crusade, available on Amazon

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Hiking the route of the Cathars in southwest France with  Spanish Steps walking holidays, author Glen Craney discovers the beauty of Minerve. Minerve is one of the “Plus Beaux Villages de France”   surrounded by deep gorges, this stony village in the heart of the Languedoc was an old Cathar bastion that was destroyed by Simon de Montfort in 1210 and the village has a column in memory of a stake at which 140 Cathars were burnt at that time. Minerve is also famous for its wine that has been produced here by local winegrowers for centuries.

Tiny Minerve in the Hérault region suffered Montfort’s wrath with particular severity. Its population now dwindled to just over a hundred, this sleepy cluster of sun-baked houses is now recognized by Les Plus Beaux Villages de France as one of the country’s most beautiful locales. Hikers can approach it from a surrounding gorge and stare up at what remains of the tower that held out against the Crusaders for six weeks. A modern monument carved with a dove, a Cathar symbol, overlooks the spot where 140 heretics were burned.

Sobered by Minerve’s fate, we headed south to the Cistercian Abbey of Fontfroide, which served as headquarters for the monastic campaign against the heretics. Both St. Bernard of ClairvauxSt.>Dominic preached in the vineyard-laced plains that surround this 12th century enclave of ochre sandstone. Now privately owned and installed with a winery, Fontfroide held a surprise for us that afternoon: a French television company was filming a documentary about the Inquisition, and the cloisters were filled with tonsured monks and menacing soldiers in bowl-shaped helmets. During shooting breaks, the actors lit cigarettes and mingled with ogling tourists. One of my most jarring memories is of a beady-eyed Inquisitor strolling past me while puffing rings of smoke from his death stick.

The next morning, we ventured out past a looming turret that overlooks the spot where the last known Cathar holy man was sent to the stake. Eight miles later, at the castle of Termes, we emerged from a mud-slicked forest into a sunny pasture guarded by sheep dogs more vicious than Crusader mastiffs. Each segment of the Sentier has its own quirks and character; depending on the weather and the condition of one’s feet, a day’s worth of ground covered can cast one into a state of bliss, or bring understanding why the Cathars deemed the world to be a vale of suffering.

Farther west up the trail, a cylinder of stone called Queribus reaches for the heavens like a space capsule about to be launched. Across the valley stands its sister castle, Peyrepetruse, which tests the visitor with an ascent of slippery footstones diabolically slanted to cast intruders into the abyss. Those tired of craning their necks skyward can find relief a few miles south in the Galamus Gorge a plummeting gash once inhabited by Christian hermits. A single car lane through the rocks with its hairpin turns instructs even the most ardent of atheist car drivers on the purpose of prayer.

As the days of walking hurried by too quickly, each with its own fascinating tale of medieval woe and mystery, we veered northeast to spend two nights shadowed by the tallest peak in the area. Bugarach has long been associated with UFO sightings and underground colonies; the science-fiction writer Jules Verne was said to have based Journey to the Center of the Earth on his experiences here.

Glen Craney is a an award winning author of several books including The Fire and the Light, the story of the Albisengian Crusades, available on Amazon

Spanish Steps Website

Read: Hiking in France on the trail of heretics and Saints, Montsegur and Foix Castle

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A walking tour in France is a great way to take a holiday with a difference. A chance to feel at one with nature and to enjoy the changing landscape, pretty villages and stunning views. This way of taking a holiday in France is undergoing a huge renaissance as more people discover the joys of an adventurous walking tour and pilgrimage, something which has been popular in France for many centuries. There are three major identifications for walking paths in France: GR (Sentier de Grande Randonée), PR (Chemin de Petite Randonée) and GRP (Grandes Randonées du Pays).

One of the first tourist guidebooks we know of, was by Amery Picaud, a French scholar and monk who wrote the Pilgrim’s Guide covering the walk of the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela. In days of old, pilgrims would have found it a hazardous route. Clashing with robbers and unsavoury types at pilgrim hotels along the way, wearing uncomfortable clothing and footwear. Some would undertake extreme actions to prove their faith such as hitting themselves in the face with lumps of wood as they walked.

There is none of the danger or hardship involved in today’s pilgrimage tours but it can be can be just as life changing. Travellers throughout history have found that the best way to see a country is on foot. By following paths that are well travelled as well as off the beaten track, it is possible to experience the daily rhythm and the rich culture of the people.

Le Puy en Velay to Conques

It’s 250 kilometres from Le Puy en Velay (which is close Lyon), to Conques and Figeac in Aveyron along the pilgrimage route known as Le Chemin de Saint Jacques. A quiet footpath in the Massif Central through a rural part of south-central France, the adventure of a life time, and an extremely beautiful way to see this part of France. The route has been walked for hundreds of years taking in ancient Roman roads and the Way of St James (GR65). Spanish Steps runs many pilgrimage walking tours and this is just one of them and it is one of the most popular walks in France.

Today’s walkers and pilgrims wear comfortable clothing and hiking boots and enjoy comfortable accommodation en route.

The Le Puy en Velay to Conques walk diverts into off-the-Camino side trips to historical sites, chateaux, picturesque villages, fabulous forests, past vineyards and famous locations. For some it is a religious undertaking for others it’s about the walk, food, wine, shopping and a chance to become immersed in the surroundings and daily life of this very beautiful part of France.

To the pilgrims of medieval times, completing a pilgrimage would mean a remission of their sins and entry to Heaven. Today’s pilgrims and walkers experience an adventure with a hint of historical authenticity, spirituality and self-discovery. At the end of the trail is the superb medieval pilgrimage site of Conques (classified a UNESCO world heritage site), with its abbey-church which remains one of the most important centres of art and spirituality in the western world. Thanks to the relics of Sainte Foy, a young Christian martyr brought here from Agen in 883, Conques became one of the main stops on the Saint-Jacques de Compostelle pilgrimage route from Puy en Velay. This is still the case today, numerous walkers take to this historical trail, stopping in the heart of the village where they are welcomed by the monks.

From Conques the journey continues to Figeac, a charmingly preserved medieval town and one of the best kept secrets of the area. Cafés such as Le Sphinx or Le Champollion, opposite the stunning Champollion Museum of Egyptology (named after the famous decipherer of the Rosetta Stone, Jean-François Champollion, the town’s most celebrated son) abound, and it is the perfect place to spend a day.

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Exploring the lush countryside of France on foot, stopping off at pretty, flower-decked villages, historic sites, beautiful chateaux, a walking holiday is an excellent way to capture the essence of France…

Chartres Pilgrimage

Part of the pilgrimage route goes from the famous town of Versailles to the Cathedral of Chartres, a major destination on the pilgrim route since the 12^th Century. It is estimated that almost a quarter of all Europeans undertook a pilgrimage in the 14th Century so this is a road well-trod. The 130km route  that the tour will take, is part of the Via Turonensis, an ancient Roman road, originating in Brussels. It passes by the famous gathering point of Tour St. Jacques in Paris, onward to Chartres, Tours, Bordeaux, Saint Jean Pied Port and later, Santiago de Compostela.

The route takes you through glorious countryside, small villages and dense royal forests. The pilgrimage ends at the Cathedral of our Lady of Chartres with a special walk of the 13th century labyrinth. The walk avoids the major urban roads of Paris, meanders through marked trails taking in picturesque little villages and major historic sites – chateaux, abbeys, churches monuments and markets. The route also goes through the lively royal town of Rambouillet where Napoleon I, Charles X, Charles de Gaulle and Ernest Hemingway once lived, and where Francois I, King of France, died.

 The walk follows the chemin along the River l’Eure into the medieval city of Chartres affording the group the most spectacular views of the city and the famous cathedral.

Inside is the famous, centuries old Chartres labyrinth. Walking labyrinths on Cathedral grounds was a popular substitute for making a pilgrimage when times were hard or dangerous.

The Cathedral of Chartres has a fascinating and rich history and is quite unique. The Cathedral was built in just 26 years beginning in 1194, replacing several churches and cathedrals previously built on the site going back to at least the 9^th Century.  There are many unique features including three separate triple doorways (the West Front, North Porch and South Porch). There are 167 stained glass windows dating back to the 13th century; the secret to how to produce such glass has been lost and cannot be replicated. Chartres is famous for the Sancta Camisa, said to be a piece of the tunic worn by Mary Tamar at the birth of Jesus the Christ, making it a very popular destination with pilgrims then and now.

Judy Colaneri is a tour guide who has undertaken and led many walking tours in France over the last twenty years in the footsteps of pilgrims who have ventured across the expansive landscape of the Iberian Peninsula for 1,200 years.  She says that ever since taking her first “steps” along the well-trodden path to Santiago de Compostela, she “was hooked”.

What to see and do in Chartres

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