14. Lourdes to Asson

 This morning saw us bright and reasonably early at the Lourdes train station. And look who we found??!!

Sarah Legrand has joined us from London (via Toulouse) to share a week’s walking with us! We’re so delighted to have the chance to share this experience and know that many of you from Benedictus will love to know Sarah is part of our adventure too!

After a first cafe and a few housekeeping things attended to, we made our way back through Lourdes towards the basilica and grotto.

We contemplated but did not purchase any additional vessels for holy water.

Immediately we left the town along the river, however, the water seemed holy indeed - running clear and a distinctive chalky green-blue colour.

It was a gentle walk - mostly flat along the river, though with a couple of hills to keep us on our toes.

These guys look pretty chilled!

After about 16km, we came to our lunch stop - a town which had once hosted a very large seminary and monastery in monumental buildings.

The church interior was more in Spanish than in French style - much bedecked by gold, though with some lovely colour in the ceiling.

The way leading up out of the town was marked by an highly ‘built’ Stations of the Cross - each station housed in its own little quasi-chapel structure. At the top, a chapel dedicated to the resurrection.

After a relatively easy final few kilometres, we walked into Asson and our hostel for the night. It’s a quiet village but with a good supermarket, and we’ve just cooked up a yummy meal for the four of us. 

Sarah L has fallen immediately into the pilgrim rhythm of handwashing and stockpiling food, and we’re so enjoying her company!

Tomorrow promises similar walking conditions (perhaps a few more inclines) and we look forward to getting a feel for this next phase of our way. 

With our love, S & N & S

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13. Bagneres… to Lourdes

 It rained heavily overnight but thankfully the sky had cleared this morning. It was a beautiful fresh day, and rested from our day in Bagneres de Bigorre we set out for Lourdes with renewed energy. 

We had a nice breakfast in the pilgrim hostel - Neil having gone out to gather early morning croissants from a nearby boulangerie that opened at 7am. He was the first customer although others were already queuing for their early pastries! 

It was a delightfully manageable stage of about 24km. It began along a fairly busy feeder road but after a few kilometres we turned off into quiet country lanes or tracks, and it remained like that for the rest of the stage. 

These two guys seemed really keen to greet us as we went past. They had a lovely spirit.

More scenes of the high Pyrenees - just stunning! The largest mountain, half hidden by cloud in the background, is the Col de Tourmalet.

This was the view from our stop for elevenses.

Soon after, the path took us off the road and onto a high ridge with staggering vistas on both sides.

You can’t see us if we can’t see you!!

 

This was our lunch spot - we were taken by the play of light on the rafters flickering up from the stream below.

The local parish church in Lourdes is enormous.

And nearby, an equally astonishing plane tree

- planted in 1818!

After settling ourselves in tonight’s accommodation, Andy also arrived and we went out to explore the sights of Lourdes. We’d been braced for some rather over-heated religious tourism, but in fact the central area of grotto and basilica seemed calm and pretty balanced. We had known little of the foundation story, but it is based on a series of visions or encounters which Bernadette Soubirous, a local girl, had of a ‘young girl’ by a stream near a small grotto or cave. These visions were interpreted as being of the young Mary, who commanded there to be a chapel built and the waters taken for healing. 

In the street leading up to the church there were a fair number of religious souvenir shops, with shelves full of statues of Mary! But it actually didn’t feel commercialised in the main devotional spaces, and you could enter freely to walk and pray.

Striking mosaics adorned the main basilica - note Judas slinking away from the Last Supper, with the purse clutched in his hand.

The grotto, site of the original visions, above which the basilica towers.

Looking down from above.

It’s been a special day and this stage to Lourdes concludes the first major leg of our journey. Tomorrow we start the second phase - from Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port. And stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog … we have a special guest about to join us for this next week of walking! 

With our love, S & N

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