La Roule - Antiquaine, Lourdes - Pyrenees FRANCE

THUR 15TH OCTOBER 1998

You'll be pleased to know that we awoke again this morning to a bright and sunny day and also for the fact that this the fist insert that I'm typing on Dave's laptop computer! (eventually to be loaded direct to you).

As we got our act together this morning the council had moved in to clean up the site - yet we receive another free nights accommodation!! We left the site before breakfast and stopped down by the river to have it. Unfortunately Dave left the headlights on again (as it was quite foggy) and would you believe the battery ran dead and the alarm began to sound. Luckily this time we were on flat ground and I tried to push start the van whilst Dave pulled the key out of the ignition. Although this did not work, Dave tried a different approach of driving the van at 40 miles an hour then pulling the key out of the ignition to turn the alarm off - and it worked!!! What a complete and utter lunatic!

By the time we drove out of La Rouen it must have been at least 12pm. We never seem to get much done as the day is usually half gone before we begin! Our plan of attack for the rest of the day was to drive south through the towns of Langon, Roquefort and Pau to our final destination of Lourdes.

The rest of the afternoon passed fast as we dropped by an E Leclerc shopping centre to pick up a few items (including a seat back cushion for the passenger seat as the springs often bore into my back). After leaving Leclerc we drove on very straight roads through forests, rural areas and small villages towards Lourdes. At 3pm we stopped for lunch in a leafy lay-by and feasted on a baguette, delicious dried sausage and smelly cheese. It was even quite hot and I began to feel a little bit of sunburn - yeh! roll on the summer!

The scenery began to change as we neared Pau and the majestic peaks of the Pyrenees loomed over a flat landscape with their jagged peaks. It is so nice to see the mountains again, especially as it's autumn, and the trees are changing colour to magnificent shades of red, yellow and brown. There was even some snow on the highest peaks which reminded us of the pleasure of skiing and how we are going to try and do as much as we can this winter.

Unfortunately I got us slightly lost in Pau and in the end luckily found our way along the N117 to Lourdes. This stretch of road was lovely. As we began to near the foot of the mountains the undulating hills were full of pastures containing cows with large bells around their necks (reminiscent of the ones in Switzerland).

We reached Lourdes by about 7pm and stayed at a picturesque campsite overlooking the Pyrenees mountains. The first thing we did was to have a shower and in the usual European fashion they were only lukewarm and the sensor light seemed to turn out and leave you in the dark. I ran out a least three times to turn it on! Also I decided to dye my hair today - just for a change and its come out a nice auburn tone if I do say so myself. Who would have thought a FF25 bottle would work so well!!

Whilst all this was going on we could hear large groups of people singing hymns from the centre of town. The sound from a distance was quite enjoyable as we watched the darkness close in on the surrounding mountains. Apparently all the pilgrims join together to parade throughout the streets with candles in the evening singing praise to mother Mary and to Saint Bernadette (a local 14 year old girl who saw an apparition of Mary 16 times in the 1800's, which the Vatican now considers to be a bona-fide miracle).

I cooked the usual pasta dinner and listened to French radio, whilst Dave was programming on his computer. As you can see life in the van is excellent. It's almost like a cultural void which you can retire to at any time to relax, as you would in your own home.