1954 – Lourdes
St. Christopher’s Catholic Cycling Club
Mark the Marian Year by Pilgrimage to Lourdes – July / August 1954
On Friday 23rd July 1954 four Birmingham members of the Club met at New Street Station. We had made a quick get-away after finishing work, and travelled to London by train in order to catch a Newhaven boat on Saturday night. Jim Watters
Day 1
Saturday, July 24th, 1954
Route:
London, Beulah Hill College, Campsite.
Notes:
Next morning two more members of the Club joined up, one from Cardiff and the other from Yorkshire, Newhaven Boat to Dieppe.
Day 2
Sunday, July 25th, 1954
Notes:
Mass at Cathedral of St. James Dieppe, statue of St. Christopher, Rouen, Shrine of St. Joan of Arc. Campsite.
Day 3
Monday, July 26th, 1954
Notes:
Jim Watters delayed with broken panniers, loses contact with the group, Liseux. Basilica of St. Teresa and the Carmel.
Day 4
Tuesday, July 27th, 1954
Notes:
Jim Watters rejoins the group. Gace, Sees and Alenson the birth place of St.Teresa, Jim Watters re-joins the group, Frank McVeigh falls and his wheel is buckled, campsite.
Day 5
Wednesday, July 28th, 1954
Notes:
Le Mans, Tours, Frank McVeigh falls and his wheel is buckled again, campsite after 136 kilometres.
Day 6
Thursday, July 29th, 1954
Notes:
Chateaux de Losges, Le Blanc, campsite.
Day 7
Friday, July 30th, 1954
Notes:
Limousin, camping in barn.
Day 8
Saturday, July 31st, 1954
Notes:
Four riders missing, Brive, Grotto of St. Anthony, Rocomadour, campsite. Mary had fallen on the gravel and gone to hospital for two days. She continued the journey to Lourdes by train.
Day 9
Sunday, August 1st, 1954
Notes:
Mass at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, Massive Centrale, campsite near Cassade.
Day 10
Monday, August 2nd, 1954
Notes:
Cassade, locals excitement over Bobet winning the cycling Tour de France race, Montauban, Auch, campsite.
Day 11
Monday, August 3rd, 1954
Notes:
Cassade, locals excitement over Bobet winning the cycling Tour de France race, Montauban, Auch, campsite.
Day 12
Tuesday, August 4th, 1954
Notes:
First view of Pyreneese Mountains, Tarbes, Rock of Massabiel, Lourdes campsite by the River Gave.
Top picture Carl Ehrenzeller Leader on the right
Three days in Lourdes, visits to: Bernadettes family home, the Basilica, the Grotto where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette, the Baths for the sick pilgrims seeking a cure, the Torchlight Procession, the Blessed Sacrament Procession and the shops selling religious articles and souvenirs.
After three days at Lourdes and camping on the banks of the River Gave, we had to set out for home in order to commence work the following Monday. We travelled by Dijon, Challon sur Seine and Paris, then to Dieppe by rail and from thence on to Dover by boat where we got a connection to Victoria, London. Here the group parted to travel their separate directions. Our return journey seemed something in contrast to the journey by road. It was a unique experience and one which the writer would not have exchanged for the opportunity to sit in comfort on a plane and drop down at Lourdes in a few hours. Jim Watters