Another sunny day in paradise

What a super sunny day and what a lot of walking. A great place with loads to see. The campsite is super smart and gives us loads of information and a map of the local area so set off around 10 o’clock this morning. It didn’t take long for the glorious temperatures to kick in, so walking in the narrow side streets gave some much needed shade to all three of us. First of all we found the town square and Cathedral which really is beautiful - I left Alan to his coffee and had a wonder around inside alone. No one else there at all and it was a really peaceful experience. I have shared the photos on Instagram and FB of the interiors and the rather ghastly gargoyle holding up the pillar to the entrance of the Cathedral. Inside there is a remarkable scroll of previous Bishops dating back to 560 and they were all logged there until 1801 when the cathedral was amalgamated into another diocese . Unusually the interiors were painted in beautiful greens, golds and reds and the morning light shining through the small rose stained glass windows were just beautiful to see. The little candles holding the lights and prayers of people shimmerEd beneath the Statue of the Virgin Mary. A very hopeful place indeed. After that we made our way through the very ancient streets down to the confluence of two Mountain Rivers, (Gaves) the Gave d’Aspe and the Gave d’Ossau. The clarity of the water is just gorgeous and you really do know you are looking at melted snow straight from the mountains that surround it. We then travelled back up through the town to the beautiful gardens. There is a lovely restaurant on the fringe of this area so we stopped for a beer and lunch (Entrocote Steak and Frites - sorry Chris!). Delicious and Tom enjoyed some off cuts too. It was by now very hot and so we decided to go the large memorial and tree lined gardens - there are some lovely memorials there to the Resistance, the Deported and to the Peoples of the Free French Army - there were also memorials to the First and Second world wars - a huge roll call actually - and (amongst other wars) to those lost in Algiers. We have been to Algiers and (under police escort) admired the now very shabby French architecture so it was interesting in a way to come full circle. Just a side issue, the park in Algiers houses the huge tree used in the original Tarzan Film featuring Johnny Weissmuller - strange but true.

By this time, we’d walked a fair way which we are used to, what we aren’t used to is

the heat, so decided to make our way back to the park. Tomorrow the original Old Town high on a hill in the centre awaits our visit. Nighty night.