Our first daily update comes from Ciara Barker, a long-serving Yellow T-Shirt who is now on her 5th pilgrimage to Lourdes with Dunkeld:

The journey to Lourdes is always one that people comment on. They say, “3 days on a bus must be long”. In many ways, however, I think it is the opposite. The past three days have been incredible. Between meeting new people and catching up with returning members I don’t think any of us stopped for breath. We shared Lourdes stories and found out about people’s lives back home, while at the same time travelling through 4 countries. We spent the night on the boat eating, dancing and singing. The following day on the bus we watched films and played games to pass the time, with some even managing to sleep.

Tours was a relatively new stopping point for the pilgrimage, so we explored the city in the evening before getting as much rest as we could – we were arriving in Lourdes the following morning.

The final leg of the journey to Lourdes will always be one of my favourite aspects, as it’s an opportunity to meet the people we will be spending the rest of the week with. Without that time, connecting on pilgrimage would not happen as naturally as it does.