Lourdes 3: a holiday as well as a pilgrimage

Our recent trip to Lourdes was intended as a holiday, as well as a pilgrimage, so we took a trip out one day to Pont d'Espagne, a well known resort in the High Pyrenees National Park. The drive up to Pont d'Espagne from the town of Les Cauterets takes you past some beautiful waterfalls. This is not my photograph - I was driving, after all.

From the car park at Pont d'Espagne there is a walk up to the Lac de Gaube, graded in the leaflet as "moderate". We managed it in the expect one hour and 15 minutes.  On the way up:

Once there, after refreshment at the "refuge", we scrambled up among the trees to find some shade and to eat our picnic. The amusement came as one of our nectarines bounced away down the hill, across the path in front of another visitor and on into the Lac de Gaube.

Before coming back down, we paddled our feet in the river flowing out from the lake. COLD - despite the warm looks of the sunny weather.

It was easier coming down. In classic Lake District style, we were able to watch the cloud coming down over the tops of the surrounding mountains as the afternoon wore on. By the time we had got down to the car park again, there was quite a bit of cloud cover.

We were blessed with a lovely day - warm sunshine but a cooling breeze and, at many points in the walk, the shade of trees.