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.

County Mayo - or, where I went during my blog break

For an utterly obsessive planner of trips, this was all a bit last minute, or rather, last second. Zero and I booked the flights a mere nine days ahead, and the B+B just four days ahead. Stansted to Ireland West-Knock, and then a hire car. We stayed in Newport. It was a little wet, or, if I am completely honest, absolutely saturatingly wet.

First call on arrival was Knock - the village, not the shrine - with the purpose of breakfast. After meandering round the countryside - my map reading, Zero's driving, we weren't lost, we just couldn't find where we were looking for - we had a walk in the grounds of Westport House.

These are two views of Newport - looking down stream from the road bridge (our B+B is among the houses on the right) and looking up stream (the railway no longer runs across the bridge, the Church is dedicated to ... you guessed, St Patrick). Pub where we had our evening meals is behind you as you look at these pictures.

The next morning, from my bedroom window:

Walking looked off for the day, so Zero drove us down to Linane, where it was still raining. It was possible to, quite literally, see the water pouring off the hill sides as we drove towards Linane.

After a coffee break, our next destination was a town called Cong, where a film called "The Quiet Man" was filmed. Or, so a conversation with a couple of local residents revealed, one scene was filmed. Other scenes were filmed at a cottage in or near Cross, a nearby village - cottage now no longer surviving. Never mind, Cong still lives on the glory of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. By now, the rain had stopped and off we went walking in the grounds of Ashford Castle and in the woods near Cong.

[Zero's nostalgia, having had her photo taken at this point in her youth]

The next morning from my bedroom window:

But it did brighten up enough by the time we had finished our breakfast (10 am - ish) for us to get out on a walk.

The three walks at Derradda are only 5 minutes drive from Newport; we did the green one - not because it was the "easy" one, but because it was the only one that didn't involve walking along the main road for a stretch. After negotiating a flock of sheep coming the other way as we started (we were, I think, less of a problem than the two dogs who had come out of nearby garden to greet us), we ended up with one of the dogs as a companion for the walk.

Setting off ...

Windswept ...

Cutting peat ...

Our companion, and the views southwards ...

Back to the hillside to the north ...

Feeding the dog at the end of the walk ...

From here we drove on to Achill, and Achill Sound. From this point - no photos, but we both saw him more than once - we spent about an hour watching a seal. Apparently there is an island full of seals out in Clew Bay, and they come up into the rivers in the area following the salmon on their way to spawning grounds.

Sunday was Knock, for Mass. Now, the day before had been all excitement at Knock (the content of this report is not quite as cynical as the headline), but the Sunday was quite calm. Mass struck me as expressing Irish Catholicism at its best - a very strong devotion on the part of the faithful - and at its worst - a complete lack of any real sense on the part of the clergy that this was Liturgy and was due some objective sense of honour. I am now reading a book about the apparition there.

The representation of the apparition in the statues at the place at which they occurred suggests a tremendous theological richness - the Lamb on the altar, surrounded by the adoring angels speaks of a Liturgy that is essentially an event of Heaven before it becomes an event of Earth in the celebration of the Church. St Joseph and St John the Evangelist accompany the person of the Virgin Mary, whose hands are held in an attitude of prayer.

And, finally, Zero squeezing everything into one bag at the airport ...