I didn’t expect to be going back to Carcassonne in 2024.

A few years ago, we began our cycling trip along the Canal du Midi here. I wrote extensively about the trip at the time.

But then my son, who recently moved their family to Canada as part of a job promotion, announced he had booked a few days in Carcassonne to allow the family to spend some time with their two year old grandson.

This part of south-eastern France: ‘Cathar country’ and close to both the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast is filled with both beauty and history.

My son’s family are not keen on having photos on social media, and I’ve respected this, posting here only a few images of this spectacular Unesco world-heritage site, which preserves an entire medieval walled city, intact and functioning now as a visitor base, bringing considerable income into this rural part of France.

The two sets of photos were taken on the same day, but some in the morning, which was overcast, and others in the evening in the glorious light of the setting sun.

but it’s always a delight, especially when it lengthens the summer in such a heartwarming way.

And, below, (and the header image) a final sunset shot from the Barbacan walls of the cité. Two members of the family are discretely in there, if you can find them…

©Stephen Tanham 2024

All photos taken and processed on an iPhone 12 MaxPro.

Stephen Tanham is a writer-photographer and mystical teacher. He is the founding Director of the Silent Eye, which offers a monthly Zoom-based gathering of companions, each one on their own, unique journey to deeper states of self-realisation.