Foggy morning chases us to Bayonne

I wondered when I woke up this morning why it was so dark but one glance out the window made me believe the Pyrenees had moved. They were not to be seen, totally covered in a dense fog. An hour later our house was also engulfed in fog! We did not think it was wise to drive anywhere so loitered about the house until it was possible to see to the bottom of the driveway. Needless to say there was no point doing any of the trips we had planned in the Pyrenees so we thought we would take a look around some of the Bearn town e.g. Sauveterre de Bearn. Then we realised we were not too far from Bayonne and not having ever been continued on our journey through the rain.

We arrived in Bayonne in time for lunch which we had in Restaurant Victor Hugo, settling for the formule du jour - starter and main course for 12 euros each. The food was very good - fish enfeuillete with fondant potatoes and a type of ratatouille. The starter was a very tasty tabouli orientale. The rain started again just as we were finishing but we were better prepared with raincoats.

The Cathedral - Cathedrale Sainte Marie de Bayonne - towers above the streets at the river. It is gothic in style and built on the site of a Romanesque Cathedral that was destroyed by fire in 1258. The chapels (and there are lots of them) are decorated with 14th century style paintings and the stained glass windows are done in the style of Chartres Cathedral.

A bit different to the "Jesus Jim" moments that Stephen has noticed me having - and we've had several of them this trip too!

Not sure what was going on here!

Back down along the river we passed an Irish pub.

On the pavement outside the Hotel de Ville

Back in the car we decided to fulfil the original plan and visit Sauveterre de Bearn but Nuvi was insistent that we would take the autoroute and we were adamant that we would not! I finally silenced her as her voice was getting increasingly frantic at our disobedience. We paid a visit to Sorde-L'Abbaye, one of the oldest abbeys in Gascony, built on the foundations of a Gallo-Roman villa. It is one of the stages on the Compostella pilgrimage.

This is a piece of art donated to the Abbey by some famous artist - can't remember who or when!

Mosaics that have been preserved. There was a glass floor over some of them and I found myself walking gingerly over it, holding on to the handrail - just in case my weighty being would find myself at one with ancient artists!

En route to Sauveterre we thought we were in New Zealand. Obviously this is kiwi country!

A little bit up this road there was a sign saying Route Barree en 6km. I said to Jim "this route is going to be barree in 6 km". He said, "It'll be fine". I said, "Jim, it's France. Route barree means route barree". He said "There'll be a deviation". 2km on another sign saying route barreee in 4km. I said, "Jim, I think the route will be barree and there will be no deviation". I have always said that Jim is, if not deaf, heedless. Another 2km and another sign "Route Barree en 2 km. I said "Jim". Then a sign "Route Barree en 500m". Jim said, "But those cars must be coming from somewhere". I said "They've had to turn Jim because the drivers' name is Jim!" Sure enough, in 500m the route was barree! And we turned and tried to cajole Nuvi to find an alternative way but she was as stubborn as Jim!. 

Quite a bit of retracing of steps and we finally reached Sauveterre de Bearn. This fortified town is also on the Compostella route. The town is perched above the Gave d'Oloron (mountain river of Oloron) facing the Pyrenees which were hiding today. 

It was from this bridge that Queen Sancie, widow of Gasto V of Bearn, was thrown into the river, at the judgement of God, hands and feet tied, after being accused of the murder of her newly born son. She survived and was declared innocent. The bridge is called Le Pond de la Legende. Sauveterre is a typical Bearnaise town.

We visited yet another church (I'm beginning to worry about this fascination with churches), Eglise St. Andre in Sauveterre.

And finally home to further evidence of cloudy skies - hopefully clearer tomorrow.

Getting the dongle dingling!

Today the priority was getting my dongle to dingle so we decided that first stop was Intermarche and Orange shop where I had been advised about the purchase of said dongle. Shop closed on Monday! Purchase of wine essential to cope with disappointment. Wine purchased we headed for Orange in Oloron Sainte-Marie. Shop disappeared! No wine in sight!! Lots of expletives out of frustration!!! Next Office de Tourisme where the girl had good English, was really friendly and actually lives in Eysus. There we discovered that most small shops are closed on a Monday but Orange would open at 2pm. She also directed us to the original shop at the end of Rue Berthou where Orange had returned after renovations. We had found Orange on Saturday in temporary location!

Meantime we explored the Quartier Sainte-Marie - Oloron Sainte-Marie has three quarters (don't know what happened to the fourth!). Interestingly for us it turned out to be the quarter where the marche ethique was yesterday and we had a very peaceful look around including a large cafe creme at the cafe that was packed yesterday.  We also got a photo of an interesting sculpture of a man tied to a blind horse!

This is a sculpture depoicting the Bishop of Oleron who died at Jaca in the 6th century. The Argonais and the Bearnais argued about where he should be buried so decided that his blind horse should have the final decision. So his body was tied to the blind horse at the col du Somport and the blind horse brought him to Sainte-Marie Cathedral!

This part of Oloron is on the Saint Jacques de Compostelle route.

We had a good look at the Cathedrale Sainte-Marie. Seemingly this is the town's great glory. It is a Romanesque Cathedral and its door is noted for its biblical and Pyrenean scenes. It is very ornate but very dark and we had difficulty finding the light buttons which illuminate the organ in particular. The gargoyles are many and varied!

Other photos of the Cathedral:

Following lunch at home we set off to dongle-fix at the Orange shop, had to wait yonks as mobile phone shops are unbelievably (or actually believably!) busy. I discovered that I had inserted the sim card incorrectly. Me? Yes me! Dongle is now dingling so I'm happy I can blog and Jim is happy he can check the obituaries on Highland Radio!

Next the second quarter of Oloron Sainte-Marie - Quartier Notre Dame. The church was very dim indeed but it was ornate too but we couldn't appreciate it fully because of lack of light.

We then made our way to the confluence of the two gaves (rivers) Ossau and Aspr. Very nice but will be better when the travaux have finished.

Rain had threatened to cut short our tour but we were happy with seeing 2 quarters of Oloron (half? or a third?) and we sought shelter in our car and did a road tour of part of the Aspe valley detouring to Arette where we will meet Eric tomorrow week. Home for escalopes of veal and egg pasta in a mushroom, mustard and creme fraiche sauce. Followed by vibers to Brian, Carol and Evy. Nothing better!

Holiday in Eysus in the Pyrenees September 2014.

The ferry trip on Irish Ferries’ Oscar Wilde was the calmest we have ever experienced. There were very few on the boat which meant prime seats were easy to find. The boat itself has a new look as if recently refurbished. It was a very relaxing journey with no entertainment and no crying babies or children running wild. Just a good book, a glass of wine and the odd furtive candy crush when Jim wasn’t looking!

On arrival in Cherbourg (September 25th) at 17.00 the skies were a bright blue and the sun was shining - 21 degrees. Our first overnight was in Saint Lo where we had booked the Inter Hotel. It was on the outskirts of the town near a Buffalo Grill and an Italian restaurant. We chose the Buffalo Grill for food - never again! The room in the hotel was good though.

Next morning we set off for Rochefort where we were spending the night with Danielle, Emmanuelle, Jade and William. We had a lovely evening catching up and planning places to visit. We thought we might give Lourdes a miss but Danielle advised going there. She said a miracle was always possible - not sure what she was suggesting! For some reason she thinks Jim is “un homme formidable”. Maybe she thinks I will miraculously become “une femme formidable". I thought I was already!

It was a long journey to Eysus although we took the autoroute. Nuvi, as usual, made up her mind to send us on a circuitous route off the autoroute before we reached Pau and lengthened our journey considerably by causing us to wind upwards and downwards on corkscrew roads until we reached our destination approaching it from the opposite direction to that advised by our home exchangers. No doubt Nuvi was convinced it was the shortest way!

After a quick trip to the Intermarche in Oloron Sainte Marie we unpacked and settled ourselves on the balcony to enjoy the beautiful sunshine, temperatures of around 26 degrees and views of the village of Eysus within the background of the Pyrenees which were masked in a heat haze.

Today, Sunday, (a much duller day) we intended to go to a “marche ethique” that we had seen advertised. But first we wanted to find the Leclerc supermarket for a few things we had forgotten. Following the instructions left for us didn’t seem to be getting us anywhere so we woke up Nuvi and set her to work. She seemed more interested in circular routes than in the destination so we almost missed the market arriving at 11.40 to find that already the producers were packing up.

Next we went to Pau, found suitable parking, accessed the Tourist Office and got the info on what is to be seen, decided to eat before doing the castle and gardens etc. Just as we were about to start on our walking tour I felt the big drops of rain. Because of the heat we had no coats so we went back to the car for refuge and gave up on Pau which we will save for better weather. It rained off and on so we decided a drive was the best. So, searching for a miracle, we went to Lourdes where it was also raining. Lourdes was packed and very commercialised so we had only a brief look and took a different route home during which we were able to enjoy some love Pyrenean views between the showers.

I am currently trying to get my new dongle to work but, infuriatingly, there is no signal!

Not one photo as yet - Jim would need to become more like the homme formidable that Danielle thinks he is!