Midi-Pyrenees

We left L’eau Salee and got back into the travelling lifestyle-On the road again. We picked up some new books at L’eau Salee and starting reading them straight away. We walked along the 2000 year old ruins of a roman aqueduct to the Pont du Gard. Thomas rolled his ankle and walked like a pirate with a patch and a wooden leg. We had a snack overlooking the Pont du Gard- a 50m high aqueduct built to supply Nimes with water. It had three tiers of arcades that spanned across the Le Gardon river. We didn’t wear enough clothes and were very cold. The museum was closed for maintenance. We drove further west to a Sheep’s cheese France passion and arrived at dark. We would have had an even harder time finding it if the host wasn’t going out the gate.


The next day we bought some of his cheese and the son told us about the time he spent shearing in NZ. They let us have a brief look at their cheese making set up. They bought the milk because they didn’t have sheep. We drove to a canyon similar a little bit like the grand canyon but a lot smaller with trees. At a look out point we could see over Millau- a town famous for making sheep’s leather gloves. In the clouds was the Millau Viaduct-the tallest viaduct in the world. We drove down into the canyon and to a ‘epace’ info centre about the viaduct. There was a great movie about the building and design of the viaduct. The has seven piers holding up a 2km long deck. The tallest pier in 340m high 40m taller than the Eiffel tower. It was an amazing feat of engineering. We then drove to a tourist information office below the town of Roquefort where it was really cold. We walked up to the one street town looking for the ‘Roquefort cheese caves’. The town of Roquefort has about 5 different companies making Roquefort cheese. Roquefort cheese is a unique sheep cheese made from Lacaune ewe milk and special penicillin made from mouldy bread that gives it its recognizable blue dots . The cheese is only allowed to be made in a small part of the town. We decided to go to the ‘Papillion’ company because they did a free tour of the caves. We went into these ‘caves’ which weren’t really caves more like a sealed hole in the ground. The reason why the cheese is stored in the caves is because of cracks in the hill called ‘Fluorines’ which connect to the top of the mountain like a shaft. They act as natural vents that kept the cave at 8-12 degrees and 96% humidity all year round. The caves we went into weren’t used anymore so there were empty rotting oak shelves. The tour guide spoke French and tried to speak English but we ended up understanding mostly everything. We tried the deliciously creamy/salty cheese. There were different cheeses without the mould that were supposed to be mild and more for the liking of kids but it smelt very strongly of sheep .Thomas didn’t like it he thought it taste like a woolshed. We bought a special knife used to peel the skin of the cheese in the 1920’s but it cut cheese as well. We got some original Roquefort cheese too. Our guide and the man selling the cheese were very kind and gave us each a pin shaped as a butterfly-’Papillion’s’ label. We walked further up the town’s hill to a crumpled chapel with a view of the valley and hills glowing in the hills. We lost Anneke when we went ducked into a church on the way back but luckily found her again. We moved on driving in the dark. It’s getting very cold so we’re trying to move south to a warmer climate. We stayed in Albi and went in a giant catherdral the next day, there was a funeral going on inside and it was raining.

Lourdes wasn't any warmer which is where we went next. On the way we tried to find a gas brand at the supermarkets to change our bottle but we happened to have the brand that nobody sells. After lunch we walked in to town rugged up with all our clothes on. Lourdes is special because it is where there was the 18 apparitions of Mary. We walked through town to the sanctuary. The streets are lined with tourist shops but it felt like a ghost town with no people in it. First we visited the most important site in the sanctuary The Grotto. It is kind of like a cave in the hill where Saint Bernadette saw the 18 visions of Mary 152 years ago. Now there is a lit up statue. Silently we all walked through the grotto. Next to the Grotto are the candle burner which a little metal sheds full burning candles that people have of offered they burn all year round and symbolise the candles continuing people prayer and also light. We were quite late so the baths were shut but it is where you can wash in the special water from the Grotto. Back at the Grotto they were doing the Rosary in French. We went to the taps and filled a special bottle of the special water for Oma at home. Then we went into the three level Basilica the was built pretty much on the top of the Grotto. We went into the crypt of Saint Bernadette and in the next door chapel they were having a mass. Then we went in the top storey chapel and then the low level the biggest. I think the bottom is the most impressive. Above the alter was a cross that looks like it was floating and around the walls was the story of Jesus illustrated in amazing mosaics. It was dark when we walked back through town to the camper and stayed there for the night. The next morning we went back into Lourdes to go the visitors centre and find out about the conditions on the roads to Cirque de Gavarnie. The weather and roads were good so we decided to go up. We walked back through town of Lourdes which is different from around the sanctuary. There was heaps an heaps of dog poo everywhere! Which was unpleasant and because William was leading the way home without a map and trying to do a shortcut we took a while to get back and at one time we were almost lost. Back in the camper we drove up the beautiful road to Cirque de Gavarnie.

We followed the river with mountains on either side and passed lots of little hydro power stations. As we climbed the snow got thicker and at the top we decided to park and walk the last few hundred metres because they looked slippery. The Cirque de Gavarnie was stunning but us kids were more interested in playing with the snow and getting the longest biggest icicle which Johanna found. At the town fountain which was almost all frozen. William dropped a huge sheet of ice of the edge onto the snow below and it made a wicked sound. Sadly we had to leave quickly because the sun we about to go and we had to get past a wet part of the road before it froze. We stopped at a village half way down for lunch and us kids went outside and made snowballs and tried to hit Johanna who was standing against a stone wall. After mum and dad got back from there walk we drove back down to Lourdes and went back in for a last time. Then we had hot soup for dinner.