Well I have had time to draw a breath now so will attempt to put my thoughts about this visit down on paper.

We left the UK on September 8th after a reasonably uneventful trip down to the coast from Scotland - why reasonably uneventful - well 4 hours after we started my beloved totally organised husband remembered that he had left his newly upgraded sub-notebook computer with all our records and routes on it at home and it was still on battery charge !! Hmmmmmm well we decided to go without it and that night we rang his sister [ lives conveniently close for these purposes] and she went up to the house and unplugged it !

Tuesday 9th Sept -
hit Portsmouth and crossed the Channel - we haven't actually used this Route since we were first able to take the dog to France - well it is a four hour crossing - and the poor pooch has to stay in the car. The time would have been OK but as we rolled up to go through the controls at 11am [ Crossing was supposed to be noon !] we were put straight to the dockside and then immediately loaded - 1 hour early !! since we were on early we thought we would be among the first off - ha ha we were almost the last so the crossing was almost 6 hours ! I freely admit we stopped at the first layby we came to so poor Leo could get out of the car - you could almost hear his sigh of relief. next time we will use Dover to Calais again

The first night in France was spent in Ste Mere Eglise - and I am sure you will all remember that that was the first Town in France to be liberated in WW II . Oh we took a pic of the parachute hanging from the Church steeple ! One is kept there as an act of Remembrance.

The we started the journey South and pulled into the campsite in Lourdes on the 13th !

So cometh the next morning off I went [ well was taken by car ] to the Ukrainian Church for Liturgy - a very important NC Feast for both East and West [ and my own Parish's Feast day too - Holy Cross ]

Oh joy the Church was open at 9.45 so in I went and was stopped dead in my tracks - the Tetrapod was on the Solea and was prepared for an RC Mass !! My jaw hit the ground very heavily as you will realise. One of the SSMI Nuns was there - and I just looked at her and she explained that Father had retired and though the Bishop was determined to find them a full time Priest , he had not yet managed to do so and so a visiting Latin Pilgrimage Group would be having Mass there that day. I can't say I was thrilled but I could see the reasoning behind it. The Bishop had apparently arranged that on one sunday each month there would be Divine Liturgy and on the others Mass would be said there and the Latin Bishop of Tarbes would arrange it. All well and good - but by 10.30 there was no Priest and no Pilgrimage Group either . However I was also told that there should be a Ukrainian Group there the next week and they should be bringing a Priest with them

Later that day I went down into the Town to spend some time in the Domain and with Our Mother and Her Son. Nice and peaceful. Oh though I have to admit I did explore some of the shops on my way down from where Raymond dropped me.

Surprise number 2 was then spotted - a new shop with Censors with bells !!! and Icons [ lots of them] and Small hanging Vigil lamps - wowee - how things can change in a few months - I decided that a closer look would be taken another day - first things first - the Grotto .

In all we stayed there for 10 days.

We met a rather strange family on the campsite - well not quite accurate - they had been there in the Spring too - Brits with 2 children and there was something about the smaller girl that puzzled me. Well all became clear this time - she in mentally handicapped and had not achieved any head control till she was over 1 year of age. Now she has a perfectly dreadful alternating squint poor wee soul , and does have a degree of both physical [ slight really] and mental problems though you do not really see them [ well apart from the squint !] Bridie started to cling to me - which was a problem and one evening I went down to their tent with something for her Mother and the family were in the tent at evening prayers and poor wee Bridie was being told off for not joining in. Now I admit I was naughty and stayed to listen for a bit - and frankly I'm not surprised she wasn't managing - long Litanies and prayers - far too much for her [ and if I am honst far too much for me ]. However nothing I could do - or so I thought . But I interfered [ naturally - can't keep my big nose out of things can I ? ] and the next day bought a wee wooden prayer Rope of 33 beads - no spacers - for her and went and saw Mum.

She then related to me this most sad story - at the age of 7 the family approached their parish Priest about Bridie's First Communion - no need for it, said he - she can't sin and can't understand Who she will Receive so she can't make her Communion with the others in her age group. I was appalled - how could anyone say that ?

I did explain that up in Scotland we do have a system of Special Religious EDucation for our children/young adults etc who have not been through mainstream Schooling [ it's known as SPRED and is a fantastic scheme] Anyway I explained about the Prayer Rope to Mum and she said that she would be overjoyed to help Bridie with this - she found it impossible to say the Hail Mary and when I explained that I thought they should try and help Bridie with the Jesus Prayer - Mum said "what's that " so of course Muggins sat with Bridie and started to teach her - just 'Lord Jesus Christ , Son of God , have mercy on me " that's enough for Bridie and showed her how to use her Rope and explained that it was hers - not Mum's or Dad's or Iona's [ the 14 yr old Sister] I suggested that they could all help her learn to say the Prayer twice - morning and evening and as she got more familiar with it they could build it up to 'go once round the Rope ' every day. It seems to have been successful - a few days later Bridie came and said the Jesus Prayer to me !!

Later on it turned out that her father serves Mass at Prinkash Abbey and one day the Celebrant realised that Bridie had not communicated with her father [ she sits on the Altar at the side so he can serve and see she is not distracted ] A few days later the Abbot was saying Mass and told her father that Bridie was to make her First Communion there a couple of days later - no fuss - no great ceremony - he wanted it just to be matter of fact . And so it was ! My reaction was thank goodness for someone with some commonsense - that child need spritual food as much as she needs physical nourishment - how sensible the Eastern Churches are with infant Communion.

However back to my other experiences - during the week I went back to the new shop - hmm the censors were not particularly good - even to my non-Eastern eyes and the hanging vigil lamps when seen close up were definitely left on the shelf - imitation bright yellow 'metal' - no taa. I had a look at the Icons and they seemed 'right' but none 'spoke' to me even those with Rizas so they stayed there too. Actually it was a strange mixture - these really Eastern things and the rest of the shop was full of pottery with Hebrew lettering on it !! Oh there was one small stand of Rosaries.

Yes I have done some shopping and a few packages will [as soon as I have packed them that is ] be making their way to some people. I have bought some lovely Cards - both in the Monastery Shop and in the Domain Librarie - and they will be used at Christmas and easter [ ooooooooh aren't I organised ] For myself this time I have brought back some Incense and charcoal and the cards - no Rosaries for me this time and I wanted a silver Neck Cross and there was nothing there [ mind this does not surprise me I have to say] there that I really liked.

So we move on to Sunday 21st Sept.

Oh joy - got to Church and ......... the doors were open... and people were in the garden........... and there were extra chairs in the Church - yes the Group had arrived

Mind you it did start late - but who worries about little things like that ? The Priest with the group came in just after 10 , with beautiful vestments - white lined with blue, and a glorious image of Our Lady on them - they must have been his own as I have never seen them here before.

After he had 'done' the Proskomedia [ spelling ?] he went forward and opened the Royal Doors and was about to start the first Litany when I realised that beside me [ I being a 'good catholic' was right at the back by the doors - oh and standing as the chairs had run out ! ] , and vested was Fr Wasyl. Well everything stopped as he very slowly and with great difficulty made his way to the Altar. The visiting Priest came off the altar to help him up the step onto the Solea and into the Altar - and then we started in earnest.

I now realise how important a good ' diak' [ is that the correct word ?] is - the responses were not very well done - no-one willing to take the lead to start them but the prayers by the congregation were excellent - everyone chanted them. Fr Wasyl preached - as usual no notes, but I was very conscious that it was an effort for him and a couple of times I turned to the English speaking nun behind me and asked if he was OK [- she did keep going onto the Altar and make him sit during the Liturgy when it was at all possible ]. Afterwards the Group managed to get him outside for photos - and the Group's Priest finished in the Altar. Oh yes - and they sang 'Many Years' to him. I found out after from Sister that Fr Wasyl has "hardly spoken for the last 2 months" - sounds as if he has had a stroke - but when he heard this group was coming he apparently insisted on being there as he had served DL for them on their last visit 3 years ago.

There was another Brit there too as I found out afterwards - she came over to me when I was chatting to Sister about Fr Wasyl. Well that is someone else who has been hooked by the beauty of the Divine Liturgy - and she wants to know more - I ,being me , have suggested that she contacts the Exarchate Offices in London to find her nearest Ukrainian Church - and I did suggest that she should mention that she had found the Church in Lourdes.

We crept away from Lourdes on the Tuesday - whilst the other family and Bridie were at Mass in the Domain - I really did not want to say to them that I could not cope with their intensity and did not want to exchange addresses and keep in contact - Bridie will be in my prayers and we will possibly meet up there next year [ my husband wants to go before Easter and I can see much 'discussion ' about this]

The rest of the journey was more or less uneventful - we bought our wine in our favourite Co-operative's Cave and slowly made our way back to Cherbourg and crossed back to the UK on Monday 6th October.

On the whole the weather has been excellent - though of course Lourdes has to surprise everyone - the week before we got there it apparently rained for 48 hours non-stop - the ground was so dry that it didn't penetrate and as a result there was flooding - they even closed the Grotto for one day !! Some of the hotels by the Grave found their basements were flooded too . But whilst we were there we were sitting outside at dinner at 7pm every night !! we had a few spots of rain - but nothing much - rain jackets were on a couple of times - but that was all for the complete month.

We got back into London on Monday about Lunch time and Felicity brought the wee ones to the campsite to see us - I wish I managed to see them more.

On the Tuesday we went up to Leeds to take my 89 year old uncle out to Lunch on the Wednesday. Uncle Philip is a great old man - very tough but now sadly beginning to fail. In the last 10 years he has had spinal surgery, prostate surgery, two knee replacements [ both knees not replacing one which failed] and now has been treated for Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia. despite all this he is reasonably mobile - but his short term memory is not what it was.


Well that's it for this trip - most enjoyable it was too - particularly the time In Lourdes - I am so lucky that Raymond now understands how much it means to me to be there and just quietly grins and bears it.

Anhelyna - the very lopsided Latin [ the list to the East is getting more and more marked ]