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.