Lourdes, Pyrenees, Spain and Back Quick!!

Well, the title says it all. We continued our journey and reached Lourdes at lunchtime. What can I say, an experience to be remembered. After stopping at the supermarket we managed to find a parking space on a road which seemed to be miles from anywhere. In fact it was right next to the park where the Grotto is situated. We walked the short distance and arrived at the queue to view the Grotto. For once the queue was not too long and after two seconds it was even shorter. A man asked us if we were English and ushered us to the front of the queue. No, not because we were English though, because we had a pushchair. So, the moral of this story is take a pushchair!! On entering the Grotto in silence there was an air of excitement, apprehension, an urgency to pray and all other feelings rolled into one. The stone was smooth were millions of hands have touched before. We then moved on and lit some candles in the area adjacent to the Grotto. Another amazing site. The only bad part to this visit was the commercial centre at the entrance to the park. Hundreds of shops cashing in on the experience. I chose to visit the Catholic shop only and bought a few reminders to bring back, including some postcards. (Yes, they are on the way!!)

We then continued our journey to the Pyrenees. Scary, is all I can say. I am glad Andrew was driving because I had my eyes shut. I have a dvd of part of the journey, so I will at least be able to watch that! The views however, were amazing and even though the sun was blazing there was still some snow to be seen on some of the mountains.

We finally arrived in Spain after a night in the mountains. HOT, HOT, HOT!! Yes, I know we should not complain, and everyone told us it would be, but it was too hot. Andrew commented that it was a bit like being a prisoner, because it was too hot to go anywhere. The views of the castle were fantastic though, including the many eagles and the paragliders. We decided that it was best to return to France as soon as possible as the children could not play freely and poor Sasha was panting continuously. We ventured out at eight thirty in the evening when the restaurant opened and had a lovely meal. The only difficulty we had was understanding the hand written notes on a piece of paper, which was the menu for the evening. My spanish, I am afraid to say, is very poor. Thankfully, the lady who spoke a bit of English appeared and we managed to have an edible meal.

The next day we made an early start for a return to France, and the language that I can speak. The first person I spoke to was the lady on the toll road. Finally, someone who understood me again.

After a whole day of driving we found the campsite. Great! It was closed for an extra lunch hour. We decided to move further north and find another. It was full! I phoned the next one and made a reservation. Great, we were finally going to be able to stop driving. Then, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. We had something in the tyre!! The good news was that we had made the campsite though. On closer inspection there was a very large nail in the tyre! Oh well, it could have been worse, not sure how though. We phoned the RAC who gave us the number of the European helpline. They were very nice and said they would send someone in the next hour. He arrived with a tow truck and no new tyre. He had no way of fixing it either. Very useful. Steve is desperately needed!! He spoke no English, which made for a great conversation. Finally, we gave up and after keeping our fingers crossed for the night we managed to inflate the tyre in the morning and get to a garage. They were fully booked but after some negotiation and lots of pleases fixed the problem in less than ten minutes. Our faith in the French is now restored!!

What next then? We are now on our way back north on the quest to find more good food, interesting places to visit and a home. Love to all.

And the most important part, I leave till last! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!!! Love you.