Gallerie

Yo ho - back from our hols. Everything went pretty much according to plan as we made our way from Biarritz on the Atlantic to Argeles on the Mediterranean - running parallel to the mighty Pyrenees and staying for four nights with my brother Robin near Pamiers. We ate well and enjoyed two fantastic meals at "Logis de France" restaurants. Sorry to all you religious wallahs out there but by far the weirdest place we visited was Lourdes where there were traffic jams of unfortunates in wheelchairs and Victorian bath chairs. How weird it was to see people lighting enormous prayer candles and filling their plastic souvenir bottles with holy water. As a lifelong atheist, I felt as if I had landed on another planet. Rather than rattle on about our holiday in southern France here's a little "gallerie de photographie" for your edification:-

Above: The beach at beautiful Biarritz.

Below: Aliens collecting holy water in holy plastic bottles from the holy taps at Lourdes.

Above: Snails bubbling at a village party near Mirepoix

Below: High on an Ariege hill - my brother Robin's farmhouse and gites.

Above: Pyrenneen horses roaming above 2000 metres.

Below: The changing face of the ever present mountains.

Below: The Mediterranean just above Cerbere and three miles from the border with Spain.