This trip is best taken on a Saturday as the market at Revel only happens on Saturdays (8.30am till mid-day), but Revel is a lovely town and worth a visit any other day, when parking is much easier. St Felix Lauragais is a mediaeval bastide and is an excellent example of the genre. It also has a stunning view point that looks across a huge panorama of the area. The Lac St Ferreol is a man made reservoir for the canal. It has a natural beach and the swimming is good. There are also pine woods fringeing the Lac and a host of different bars and restaurants that provide liquid or solid refreshment after your walk or swim. There is also a large area of grass overlooking the Lac with picnic tables amongst the trees.
Leave the house and drive up through the centre of Castelnaudary, following the main road. As you leave the town turn right at the traffic lights and take the D624 signposted to Revel. Follow this road for about 15 kms, then turn left onto the D622 for about 3 kms. Bear right up the D20 into the centre of St Felix. The usual bastide type square is there, with an ancient market hall, a couple of bars and a clothes shop. There is also an idiosyncratic dress shop and a splendid artisan boulangerie. Just out of the square at the top is a small park with steps up to the most wonderful viewpoint.

A segment of the view from St Felix

There is a map showing where everything is and you can see to the Pyrenees. Just outside the other end of the square is a very good restaurant, the Poids Public, serving inventive modern regional food.

From St Felix you can go back the way you came and follow the signs to Revel. Find somewhere to park and on a saturday this can be difficult. Persist; the market is worth it. Walk into the town centre – yet another bastide in the usual format. The food market is held under the mediaeval market hall roof. It contains an astonishing variety of local produce and is a microcosm of French rural life. It is the focal point of the week. people come in from miles around. The usual market traders are there, but there are small local producers selling whatever is in season. No strawberries or peaches in December here. People meet friends, sit in cafes and gossip: tourists come from all over the place to see the market, locals buy serious amounts of local seasonal produce for bottling, jam making etc. and ordinary people just buy their food for the weekend and enjoy the outing. So much better than a supermarket.

The market hall at Revel

Ducks for sale at Revel market

Outside the market hall at Revel

After you have had your fill at the market and maybe bought some bread, cheese and meat for a picnic, take the road to St Ferreol, the D629. This winds up into the hills at the back of Revel. There you will find the Lac de St Ferreol. It is one of the feeder lakes to the Canal du Midi. it is a fresh water lake, fed by the streams of the Black Mountains with a piped outlet to the Canal to maintain the correct water levels.

The beach at lac St Ferreol.

The roads that go alongside to sides of the lake are lined with bars and restaurants. If you park and walk through the pine woods that fringe the lake you find a magnificent view towards the mountains. There is a natural beach that ebbs and flows with the fullness of the lake. You can swim and laze about in the sun or sit in the shade in the woods just behind. If feeling very energetic you can hire pedalos and get out further into the lake.

Picnic area at Lac St Ferreol

To get back to Castelnaudary take the D79 past a couple of ice cream stalls. You come to the new Riquet museum, which is a seriously good museum for the canal. It also has a good cafe. I recommend a visit.  Having left the museum keep on the D79. Ignore the signposts to Vaudreuille and Castelnaudary, but keep going straight on. The road climbs up the shoulder of the Black Mountains and passes the aerodrome where gliders and hang gliders operate. Eventually this road drops down the other side with views across the plain towards Castelnaudary. It joins the D334 and you will see across the valley to your right the main D624. When you reach the D624 turn left and go down the hill into Castelnaudary.

The view over Castelnaudary from the road to St Ferreol