Lourdes, Pau and home

The clouds that had hidden the marmots marked a change in the weather so it was easier than it might have been to think about returning home.

We left Luz Saint Saveur after filling up any nooks and crannies amongst the luggage with wine bottles. As we headed out of the Pyrenees northwards we paused to visit the holy places in Lourdes. The souvenir shops around the area were every bit as tacky as we expected but the Basilica and the Grotto were havens of peace and tranquilty. The experience was very uplifting.

We were entertained over lunch by the behaviour of a group of ladies from the USA who had lunched together but wanted to pay individually. It was like watching an episode of Golden Girls live. When we had stopped giggling we got back in the car and headed to Pau. The date was 21 June, which is celebrated throughout France as the Festival of Music.

We were told that the festival was an occasion for schools, colleges, orchestra and so on to play to the public at many venues. What we found was that every street seemed to have musicians playing a broad variety of music. We ate a chinese meal to the sound of a brass band, we strolled past rock bands that made us click our fingers and wish there was room to dance and we listened to piano music played with style.

The gentleman pictured had a deep bass voice and was singing tribal music blended with pop backing. It sounded much better than my description.

The following day we headed onto the autoroute and made our way back to Bilbao to catch the ferry back to Portsmouth. It was a great holiday but it is always nice to get home.