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We took a train west to Villefranche-de-Conflent, an eleventh-century town of some 300 inhabitants which is still enclosed by medieval walls and which has changed little in the last 900 years. The village is settled in a narrow pass in the Conflent valley at the confluence of the Tet and Cady rivers, and mountains run down to the towns walls. On top of one mountain is a small fort, Le Château-Fort Liberia, built in the late seventeenth century by Vauban to control the valleys. The fort is now connected to the town via a passage which runs down through the mountain. This Way of 1000 Steps is now open to the public, and we came down the mountain through this enclosed passage. Dericles, however, was obliged to run up the mountain without stopping, which he did!
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Western Europe
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