Windy Miller Tour Blog

The main event of the day (15 minutes away on the bikes) was “Sanctuaires Notre-Dame de Lourdes” (The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes) and was – in winter at least – a lovely, peaceful retreat set on the River Ousse.

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After initially being shooed out by the bouncer 😂 (because you are not allowed to cycle around the grounds) we secured the bikes outside and re-entered à pied (on foot 🦶 )…

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Within the grounds are the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception & – built directly underneath – the Basilica of the Our Lady of The Rosary.

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We arrived about 11:30am and Mass was being said in both churches so we explored the smaller surrounding chapels and I went to light a candle & say a prayer 🙏 

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AND I have to report that I’ve been in a LOT of churches & nearly always light a candle but it’s the first time I’ve EVER been able to pay (€3 for the tiniest candle) with my phone at a terminal right next to the candle holder inside church – sign of the times, indeed !!! 💰🕯️💒🙏

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{OK so I’ve just written the blog for today but there’s too many piccies for it to cope with in one go so I’m doing a few smaller posts with a few piccies at a time xxx}

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Saturday dawned beautifully sunny 😎 (if a bit chilly 🥶) and Dave set up the electric bikes 🚲 – nice piccie below of them outside The Van with The Pyrenees 🏔️ in the background 😊

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So we bibbed off (me very gingerly as I’m out of practice) but Dave was (as ever) brilliant, led the way & kept waiting for me to catch up & didn’t berate me for being slow ❤️

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Well nothing really of interest to report for Friday 6th January – we left the previous “camping car parking” place and headed for Lourdes – which was a LONG drive.

So – unlike 2006 when we were so wrecked we ignored the alarm that kept going off over the speaker in our 4 berth cabin (see Maria modelling in piccie !!!) – today we were up at 6:30am, showered & eating pain au chocolate & a hot drink in the cafe by 7:15am !!!

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Took AGES to disembark and didn’t drive onto terra firma in St Malo until 9:45am (French time as we gained an hour) even though docking time was 8:15am – lazy French B…

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Anyway Dave was an absolute ⭐️ today and although we were originally heading for La Rochelle, ended up driving even further & we are now in a motorhome aire (like a cheap campsite in town but not that cheap at £15 for one night in bloody January !!!) in a place called Châtelaillon-Plage which is even further south…

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So we (well probably Dave TBH) are (hopefully) going to get all the way to Lourdes by tomorrow night so we can do all the fabulous, religious recommendations (that are open in January anyway) on a dry, sunny 😎 Saturday – as Sunday looks rainy ☔️ & cr@p everywhere…

So look what I found on Dave’s phone – a photo in front of the same stage !!!

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Hey we’ve hardly changed a bit in (sh!te) 16 years 😂

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Where does the time go ???

So (even though we arrived at Portsmouth Brittany Ferries terminal 90 minutes before sailing) we were the last to board so dumped our stuff in the 2 berth cabin (I went on top 😐) & headed for the bar 🍷🍺…

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Unbelievably, it was the same ship as December 2006 when my sister, brother-in-law, Dave & myself did a Wave 105 Booze Cruise – couldn’t resist taking a photo of the stage & dance floor but sadly no entertainment this year 😞