We begin with the official photograph of our Tangney Guide, Susan, With those she was looking after that week including 13 members of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club.

This icon on the pavement not far from the Cachot and Boly Mill was the beginning of the Plenary Indulgence route.

This line connected the four locations which we visited on the Plenary Indulgence route.

The baptismal font, now located in the modern parish church,  the church in which Bernadette was baptised having given way to a war memorial.

Below are two photographs taken of members of our group at the Baptismal font.

The statue above and the photograph of Bernadette below are both in the Cachot where St Bernadette spent part of her childhood after the collapse of the family business of running the Boly Mill.

Bernadette's family tree is to be seen in the Boly Mill where she was born.  Other photographs taken in the Boly Mill are shown below.

The hospice where St Bernadette received First Communion with the Pyrenees in the background.

The Grotto where the apparitions occurred is probably one of the most photographed places in the world. Above is the famous candle stand at the Grotto and below is is the world famous statue at the apparition site and then a wider view of the grotto.

Next to the Grotto the main area of devotion is what is known as "the Domain" around the Rosary Basilica.  Following are some photographs of the Basilica taken from outside and inside.

In and around the Rosary Basilica are beautiful altars including the high altar itself, Altars of St Bernadette (inside and outside the Basilica), St Michael and St Francis of Assisi.

On top of the Basilica is beautiful gold crown surmounted by a cross which was presented to Lourdes at one stage by the Irish National Pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Directly in front of the Basilica is the "Crown Statue", a centre of devotion for many pilgrims.

The next eight photographs are of the High Stations.  I didn't want to take photographs during the route around the stations so we just had the two photographs of our group taken in front of the Crucifixion at the end of the stations.  The other photographs were taken later.

The following three photographs are of the "Low Stations" which are situated on the opposite side of the river from the Baths beyond the St Bernadette Basilica,

Below are five views of the town of Lourdes taken from the Chateau Fort

A view of the parish church of Lourdes taken from the Chateau Fort

A statue of St Bernadette in the garden of the Chateau Fort

A view of Lourdes against the background of the Pyrenees taken from the Chateau fort

Two further views of Lourdes Parish church taken from the Chateau fort.

Some views of the model town at the Chateau Fort

And some views of the fort itself taken from the vicinity of the Fort or from the town

The front and back of the Celtic Cross between the end of the High Stations and the Rosary Basilica the inscription on which is in Irish

Looking down the Esplanade from the Rosary Basilica.

And just beyond the esplanade a delightful representation of Bernadette with sheep.

And a stained glass window representation of St Bernadette with her parish priest

A moving daily experience is the procession of the sick

The following are pictures of other items of interest in the vicinity of the Domain and further afield in the town of Lourdes

Photography is frowned upon in the vicinity of the baths for obvious reasons but below are two photographs taken from a safe distance from the other side of the river and from the balcony on the river side of the Rosary Basilica.

We were billeted at the excellent Beau Site Hotel on the bank of the Pau river.  Below is a photograph of the hotel and of the waitress and garcon who looked after us so well during our stay.

Here are some views taken inside the St Pius X Basilica.

And we also took a few not very good shots inside the St Bernadette Basilica.

On 25 March we had an outing to Gavarnie.  This is a Pyrenean village with no obvious connection with the apparitions at Lourdes but it is close to the Compostella Camino and much of the devotion in the village church centres around St James as evident in the following photographs.

Following are some of the sights we saw on the way to Gavarnie.

In Gavarnie itself there was snow and fog but we nevertheless captured som oe the atmosphere of the Pyrenees

On the way back we stopped at the fascinating Church of St Savin.

Our guide for the day gave us lots of information about the church to we all listened carefully.

Inside the Church we saw the Leper Font

The Organ.

The high altar.

The side altar

And the Crucifix.

And Finally some photographs of the ramblers as we made our way around Lourdes celebrating the 150th anniversary of the apparitions to St Bernadette.

The rain never stopped for the four days we were in the town as is evidenced by the many umbrellas in the following photographs.

We made a special trip to St Michael's Gate to collect our Jubilee Insignia.

Behind the Rosary Basilica are the stands where the many candles purchased by Pilgrims burn. 

The small candles are generally lit as a favour to individual relatives and friends.

And larger  candles are lit by or on behalf of groups.

We collected enough money to be able to buy quite a large (5 foot) candle representing the prayers and aspirations of the members of the St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers Club.

And we placed it among the other group candles.  We naively thought that the candles were left to burn to the end but when we went back two days later we found that they are actually removed a day or so after they are placed in position and burned en masse.  But here are some photographs of the candle in position and of members of our group in the vicinity of the candles.