And the next, next day!

This was the day I had been most looking forward to as we were to visit Rocamadour. I'd seen photos of it and was hoping it was as lovely as it looked - and indeed it was. It is a famous medieval site where people did (and still do) undertake pilgrimages to the Black Virgin, the protector of mariners! We parked at the top of the site and then caught an elevator which was carved out of the cliff down to the first level, although had I realized what an easy walk down it actually was I would have preferred to walk. Either way, this was where the main square was leading to seven churches and the 250 carved steps where some pilgrims climb up the steps on their knees to atone for their sins and ask for forgiveness. It's a bit like pilgrims at the tomb of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal but this is up concrete steps! In fact we did see one youngish woman doing just this and she seemed to be in an awful lot of pain! I guess when you're not of that faith you probably don't understand it (I certainly don't) but all respect to her!

Pilgrims at the tomb of
Our Lady of Fatima - a google image

The whole site was
built into the rock!

This is where we saw the
young woman climbing the
steps on her knees!

Cleaning work being
carried out!

The chapel of the Black Virgin was very small but the church adjoining it was much bigger and absolutely stunning. While I'm not a church-goer, I love to visit churches and this one was just amazing!

The Virgin used to be naked but
they added a red cape sometime later!

Our guide told us there were 250 steps to the "town" so we could either take the next elevator down or walk. This time I decided to walk - and it was just fine!

Before lunch we had about an hour to wander round and I bumped into Philippe so we went and had a drink together. He was telling me pretty much the same stories about the old fogies' committee as the others but said that if they could get rid of the current president he would consider staying on. After that it was off to a very good lunch and then on to visit the 14th century (and still functioning) flour mill of Cougnaguet. While the workings of the mill were pretty interesting, quite honestly I felt our group was too big for the visit and since the lady giving the tour was really tiny, anyone standing at the back (i.e. me) didn't really get to see or hear much, so I would honestly rate this place as the least-interesting place on our trip. Still, you can't have everything in life can you!

Rocamadour - picture taken from
our travel guide (since I don't have
a drone and I can't fly)!

Google picture of the ancient mill!

After that it was back to our hotel for dinner and a game of lotto! I remember thinking "oh gowd I could do without this", but in the end it was quite fun - a bit like bingo but not 100% the same. The hotel owner (who could sell sand to Saudi but was great fun with it) had 29 items picked out from their home-produced goods and we worked our way through our "bingo tickets" until all 29 items were gone so that left just one person with nothing - and guess who that was! Me!!! I mean, how can you come last out of 30 people? But not to worry, he had an extra prize and I came away with a nice bottle of local wine (for being a good loser?), so I'm not complaining!

In other news, earlier this week I attended my first meeting of the Old Fogies Club committee members, where it looks like I'm going to become the new Treasurer after the AGM in November - along with the new President and Secretary. When I asked how many members there were she told me 185!!!! What on earth have I left myself in for???

And finally, in an effort to keep moving forward with decluttering I packed up my kiddies' playpen (barely used) and will be giving it to Jen on Wednesday to see if she can sell it at the upcoming yard sale type sale of children's goods in their town (she's welcome to keep the money). So then I decided I was going to get rid of the old stereo set that my ex had installed in the small bedroom which serves as the computer room (it's so old it still takes cassette tapes). Well I managed to lug both the speakers downstairs but when I went to unplug the main component I first had to figure out which of the many plugs belonged to it at the back of my computer desk. Eventually I found it, gave it a good tug to be sure I'd got the right one, and when I realized the plug was too big to pass behind the computer desk I decided to just cut it off with scissors - except I'd somehow managed to get the wrong cable and cut through a still plugged in electrical cable. The spark was interesting, to say the least, but fortunately I wasn't hurt, even if my hair is a bit curlier now. Not my finest moment though!