Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

Since most scientists are just a bit religious, and most religious are seldom wholly unscientific, we find humanity in a comical position. His scientific intellect believes in the possibility of miracles inside a black hole, while his religious intellect believes in them outside it.

William Golding

Do you believe in miracles? If so, Lourdes is the place for you.

For those of you who don’t know the story, in 1858 a series of 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary were reported by a 14-year-old girl, called Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes.

After the first reported apparition on 11 February 1858, Bernadette told her mother that a “Lady” had spoken to her in the cave of Massabielle (1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) from the town) while Bernadette, her sister, and a friend were gathering firewood.Bernadette reported similar apparitions of the “Lady” over the ensuing weeks, in the last of which the “Lady” identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception”.On 18 January 1862, the local Bishop of Tarbes Bertrand-Sévère Laurence endorsed the veneration of the Blessed Virgin in Lourdes. Thereafter, millions of Catholics have made the pilgrimage to Lourdes in search of miracles.

The only miracle I had in mind when I poked my nose out of my bedroom window in the pilgrim hostel at Bagnères de Bigorre, was whether the clouds would lift and whether I’d make it to Lourdes in one piece!

Much of the day was spent clambering up and down slippery muddy wooded paths or crossing bleak fern clad plateaus in near zero visibility. The walking was some of the most unpleassnt and challenging that I can ever remember undertaking. It was like a combination of crossing Dartmoor on the bleakest of autumnal days shrouded in thick fog and ridge walking in the West Highlands in near zero visibility.

Around midday I encountered a hunters cabin. This, in itself, was a sort of miracle. I plonked myself down on a bench and polished off the ham and cheese I’d bought in the automated farm store in Arès a few days previously. Sadly the bread had assumed the consistency of cardboard and was completely inedible!

Rejuvenated, I headed back into the gloom and made my way across the plateau. Thr path eventually morphed into a farm track and then a gravelled road. From then kn I decided that the best policy was, wherever possible, to stick to small gravelled tracks and avoid the muddy path.

Having passed through several small hamlets clinging to the hillside where there was no visible sign of life, during mid afternoon I came to the village of Ourdis-Cotdoussan. A sign outside the village church indicated that it was a Unesco site.

At this point, an old man appeared with an ancient looking sheep dog and asked me whether I was a pilgrim. He then opened up the church and showed me around.

The baroque altar piece was a magnificent sight to behold. Having been closed for 30 years the church was restored to its former glory from 1997-2002.

Félicien, the churchwarden, then took me next door to a barn next to his house which had been converted to a rest stop for pilgrims.

Félicien opened up a fridge and offered me a beer. What a fantastic surprise. Aged 80, Félicien told me that he had been born in the village and had lived his whole life there in the house where he’d been born.

I left Ourdis-Cotdoussan wih a spring in my stride. Over the next few hours there were a few more gut busting ascents before the final stretch into Lourdes. At one point I was surprised to encounter several joggers who were bounding up the narrow mountain path with the agility of a gazelle!

I eventually made it to the pilgrim centre in Lourdes with 10 minutes to spare before it closed. I asked the chap in the pilgrim office whether the nationwide strikes, due to take place the next day, were still on in view if the prime minister’s resignation. He admitted he didn’t have a clue. On a more optimistic note, the weather was due to improve over the coming days. That settled it. I decided on the spot, to take my fate in my hands and continue – not to Hendaye (which would several 40km days) but to Saint Jean- Pied-de-Port.

And as for miracles? Well I’d maybe need to plan a return trip to Lourdes at a future date – there simply wasn’t going to be time in my schedule to visit the grotto and seek a miracle cure for my lack of smell.