Castres turned out to be a sizeable town. Its name is derived from the Latin castrum, and means "fortified place". Castres grew up round the Benedictine abbey of Saint Benoît, which is believed to have been founded in AD 647, possibly on the site of an old Roman fort (castrum). According to Wikipedia, the town became an important stop on the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain because its abbey-church, built in the 9th century, held the relics of Saint Vincent, a well-known Spanish martyr. It was apparently a place of some importance as early as the 12th century, and at the time ranked as the second major town in the region after Albi. Like Albi, where the name came from, it was a stronghold at the beginning of the 13th century of the so-called Albigensian heresy.
So despite the early Benedictine influence, Castres became a major Protestant stronghold in France.
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| Here's the hotel where I couldn't get a reservation on a Saturday |
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| I stopped in the main square to enjoy a beer before returning to my gîte |
My wonderful hostess, Madeleine Lucchese, ran a bed in breakfast out of her home. A former pilgrim herself, she took special pains to make her guests feel welcome and drove me to the next village the following morning to shorten my walk because of the heat.
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| Madeleine Lucchese, my superb hostess |
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| Madeleine was kind enough to give me a head-start on my day's walk |
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| The Black Mountain so-named for its appearance |
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| old windmill |
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| rest stop at this church courtyard |
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| Verdalle |
There were twin monasteries in Dourne, both built at the end of the 19th centuries, En Calcat for men, and Sainte Scolastique for women.
The Saint Benoît Abbey of En-Calcat, a Benedictine order, was founded here in 1890. The nearby women's abbey, where I stayed, St. Scholastique was founded four years later, in 1894. Although now deceased, one of the monks, Dom Robert, became a well-known figure in tapestry design.
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| I had lunch there on the grounds |
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| Sainte Scholastique where Bernard and I would spend the night |
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