Lourdes, Oloron-St-Marie and St-Jean-Pied-de-Port - Days 58 to 61

Lunch outside on the last day of our housesit

What a lot it feels like we’ve packed in to a relatively short space of time. Louise arrived home about an hour later than planned, just due to hitting rush hour really. This wasn’t a problem Charles had arrived and we’d started on the wine. We had a lovely evening, lots of chat, lots of eating and lots of drinking, which unfortunately proved to be a problem in the morning!

With a bad head (B) we set off to drive to Lourdes. By the time we arrived having stopped to shop it had started raining and we were both very tired, so we stayed in, despite being slightly disappointed with the campsite facilities! (campsite location: 43°06'16.1"N 0°01'57.4"W)

William cat keeping Brian warm in bed

Woke up feeling much better so started the sausage and beans in the thermal cooker and headed off into Lourdes.

A little bit about Lourdes from Brian, as Jackie assumed everyone knew about it. Prior to 1858 Lourdes was nothing more than a small village, but on 11th February of that year Bernadette Soubirous, a 14 year old daughter of a poor local miller, had the first of eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary in the Grotte de Massabielle by the Gave de Pau. Since then Lourdes has become the most visited place in southern France as Catholic pilgrims hoping for miraculous cures and tourists flock here in their millions every year. The town is now packed with hotels and myriads of shops selling everything Bernadette and/or Virgin Mary on bottles and all manner of articles. High season is, of course, the summer when, apparently queue's form to visit the Grotte and bascillica, but we were completely off season and had a free wander around with very few other people, many shops and hotels closed for the season.

An indication of how touristy it can be

Outside the Basillica at Lourdes

We did pass some shops selling water bottles of all shapes and sizes, rosary’s of all colours and various other things, but for each open shop, two were closed, so my tackyometer was kept in check. The area of the grotto, the outdoor chapel, the basilica and the underground basilica were all well presented. The underground basilica, built for the centennial of the appearances is amazing, it does look like a car park, but it apparently holds 20,000 people, yes 20,000 people and holds services every day in the pilgrimage season. I’m so glad we were there out of season! So, an enjoyable visit, glad we went but will probably never go again as I’m sure it can only get worse!

And inside the Basilica

Quick lunch and set off to Oloron Ste Marie, an interesting enough little town, but really just a handy stop. Campsite location: 43°11'02.2"N 0°36'30.0"W

Brian says: it is in a beautiful valley (Ossau Valley) and at the confluence of two mountain rivers in the foothills of the Pyrenees. There is also a large Lindt chocolate factory in the town, but no factory tours are possible. Oloron St Marie is actually two town that joined together, Oloron is a hilltop walled town with a UNESCO 11th century church and St Martin, another small community with a 12th century church.

The basilica atop the Grotte de Massabielle

Just about to congratulate ourselves on running into no ‘yellow jackets’, there they were, though they appeared to be handing out sweets. Until we approached the next roundabout, where there were more in view only to be waved onto a diversion by the police. Fortunately the sat nav coped and only a couple of minutes were added to journey time, so we can now say we’ve seen some, been diverted, but fortunately not really impacted. Glad we are nowhere near Paris!

The Grotte de Massabielle where Bernadette had her visions

Although we weren’t expecting electricity at this Aire, there were points, one of which was in use. So not being able to see how you could pay for this electricity, there was nowhere to stick the expected token, we gave all the outlets a try, nothing. The owner of the other van appeared and said “jetons, office de tourism” so that was the end of that, except Brian had managed to paddle in dog poo and drag the cable through it. By the time he’d had a paddy and cleaned up I vetoed the cup of tea and said we were going for a beer. Well it was 16.00 and we’d have seen nothing of town if tea had won! We met another lovely lady in another tourist office. She explained that you put your token in the central service point and select where you are going to plug into, though did say sometimes it is possible for someone else to get your electric! At €4 for 55 minutes we decided not to bother. She did give us a very nice short walk and a recommendation for a bar, so she did well!

A lovely bridge and very old. It was after that we found it was crossed every day by Bernadette on her way to the Grotte

The underground basilica that can hold upwards of 20,000 people

Up bright and early this morning, left unhindered and did a scenic drive to Jean de Pied de Port. Campsite location: 43°09'54.1"N 1°13'54.9"W. Glad it was Sunday as traffic was probably at it’s optimum for enjoying the drive. We arrived in time to park up, walk round the town and decide to have our second lunch out. No wine this time, so I can write, but are both feeling very full. One starter and main, and one main and dessert works very well. I’m now sitting in the van typing with a gorgeous cat fast asleep on my lap. We met her on first arrival, and on getting back to the van, she walked past, I called and she came running over and has made herself right at home, though now I’ve finished and the water has heated I’m off for a shower, will she still be here when I get out?

View from the hilltop at Oleron-St-Marie

The 11th century church at Oleron-St-Marie

St Jean Pied-de-Port literally means St Jean at the 'foot of the pass' and is a major stopping off point for pilgrims on the Santiago de Compostela route before embarking on an arduous crossing of the Pyrenees. It has a fifteenth century citadel on a prominent hill and has been the site of confrontations between the French and Spanish.

View of our first big 'yellow jackets' protest march at Oleron-St Marie (they are in the centre of the photo)

St Jean Pied-de-Port from the hilltop fort

Entrance to St Jean Pied-de-Port walled town and fort

Arriving at the fort (now a college)

Walking some of the battlements of St Jean Pied-de-Port after a very nice Sunday lunch

Jackies first meeting of a very cute cat in the supermarket next to our campsite at St Jean Pied-de-Port

And when we got back from our tour of the town she joined us in Big Ted (and so far has been here since!)