maijs 15, 2015 Live from the road

Lourdes - Luz-Saint-Sauveur

Reported by Devashishu Torpy 33.0 km

The Peace Run descends from the Pyrenees into France.

Local runners from Lourdes greet us to guide us on a 17km run to their world famous town.

The hills are shrouded in mist and there is a gentle rain as we make our pilgrimage to Lourdes.

A very nice cyclepath, with kilometre markers, leads us directly to Lourdes ....

... passing by the occasional boulangerie!

Outside the Running Club headquarters in Lourdes.

The town of Lourdes is full of pilgrims and tourists.

The Lourdes Cathedral.

The cathedral is built above the Grotto where Saint Bernadette had her visions.

The Peace Run team pass by the Grotto in silence.

A representative from the town is our guide and welcomes us to this significant place.

Some parts of the Pyrenees are covered in fresh snow.

The run makes it's way up the famous pass 'Tourmalet' - the long climb which is one of the annual highlights in the Tour de France.

As the runners reach the top the clouds begin to part (the road was actually closed until we arrived).

The British Hill Climbing Bike champion 2013, Tejvan Pettinger, tackles the climb.

At the top - a few minutes of breathtaking blue skies and an incredible panorama.

Time for a snowball fight!

This is the British Hill Champion's first ever hill climb outside the British Isles.

2115 metres altitude!

The clouds move quickly back over.

The team descend into the mist.

The pace picks up quite dramatically!

Lower down the Tourmalet pass in the town of Luz we are met by town officials in the public garden.

The team are issued souvenir headgear.

Our local runner holds the torch.

In Gavernie our hosts, Delphine and Christophe, join us for a photograph.

This is the Cirque above Gavernie - a tall ridge which seperates Spain and France.

The runners hike to the tallest waterfall in France: 422 metres.

Torch carried by
Albena Margeritova (Bulgaria), Anne Leinonen (Finland), Devashishu Torpy (Great Britain), Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Dmitriy Gameza (Russia), Gordana Petrovčić (Croatia), Keyarie Salvi (France), Mukunja Cousin (France), Myriam Sharma (France), Paramanyu Lebedev (Russia), Prabala Carvalho (France), Prabhata Schrader (Germany), Sukham da Rocha (Portugal), Unnatishil Bravo (France).  
Photographers
Dipavajan Renner, Paramanyu Lebedev
The torch has travelled 33.0 km from Lourdes to Luz-Saint-Sauveur.

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