29 April

I awoke suddenly and realised it was the church bells ringing me awake. The alarm on the mobile didn’t go off for another hour. Then it was up, and although I had heard rain when I woke, I didn’t hear it while getting ready for breakfast.
Where I am staying has a number of guest rooms and also does evening meals. Therefore it is nowhere near as informal as the other places I have stayed at. I got a normal-sized cup and slices of baguette for my tost with vegemite. I also had small shortcake-like material, the closest to biscuits I’ve seen while away. I dunked them, but they weren’t too absorbent.
Back in my room I sorted out my dirty washing because, if experiences were as before, a lot of what I want to see doesn’t open until nearly 10, while the laundrette had opened at 7. I went down to town (Lourdes) and prepared to air my dirty linen in public (except it was all cotton, not linen). I got a parking place near and went over. There were two ladies who seem to run it from their place behind, and they do quilts and other large items. They will also do and press laundry. With a little assistance I got the washing going (it took thirty minutes) and walked down into the city to orient myself and see what was open – answer, very little except the market. Back at the laundrette I transferred the clothes to a dryer and then organised what I already had in the car. I planned a little out of my day, then the laundry was dry except for my trousers (I did remember to change into the other pair) and socks, so they went on for another five minutes while I hung the shirts up and put them into the car). I also tried to see if I could pick up a wireless network, but no luck today. Then, with all the washing clean (this time the shirts were reasonably clean, but the socks weren’t dry still) and the socks spread across the back window-ledge.
I went to the funicular railway so I could get a better view of everything. The ride up was slow but the view from the station was good; the view from the top was magnificent! There were mountains, valleys, Lourdes itself and a number of small hamlets nestled into the sides of mountains (including the place I am staying in). After soaking that in, and taking the odd photo (and some normal ones) I went down, back into the car, got a baguette for lunch, picked up a map I had left and then headed out to Cirquiel Gavarne. This turned out to be a drive, then a walk, to the foot of the mountains I had seen from the top of the railway. I did this then because it was noon when I came out of the railway and nearly everything shuts from noon to 2. As it was into the mountains, it was cool but the sun did have a bite. There were pony and donkey rides instead of walking, but I needed the exercise (memo to self: only walk a long distance if you have your boots on, not your shoes, as they are NOT comfortable for walks over half an hour). The drive up and back was slower than I thought, so I wasn’t back into Lourdes until 4:30. I parked and walked over to the Shrine area, but after a quick look around I left (there were processions and other events being celebrated and I didn’t want to get in the way). On my way back I went through what has been described as a shrine of tackiness, and I have to agree. Apart from shops selling every piece of religious memorabilia you could image (and a lot more, even if you have a vivid imagination) and having the most outrageous names (including St Lawrence O’Toole, whom I have never heard of). The hotels however outdo them, mixing religion and popular culture and getting it oh so wrong. The only consolation is the prices are fairly reasonable, as there is a lot of competition (with over five million visitors a year in a town of 16 000, there have to be a lot of hotels). The best sight I saw was a bus driver, talking on his mobile, driving a full complement of passengers along a narrow street and weaving his way in and out of parked cars and pedestrians.
After that I returned (it being 6:30 nearly) and organised my (now) clean clothes (I do have eighteen sets, but somehow every other time I have miscounted – terrible for a maths teacher). My jacket needs washing, but the problem is I have so much stored in it AND it takes forever to dry as it can’t go through a dryer and has to drip-dry.
Now to do the photos and then organise some other pictures and off to bed to set out for my last day (at the moment) in France. I expect to be in Spain Thursday evening on my way to meet a cousin-in-law and will then stop in France on my way over to Italy.