FT266

It had been raining for weeks on end in the French Pyrenees, day after day of cold wind and grey skies. Still, even in these absolutely wretched conditions, the faithful gathered as usual on the morning of 21 June at the mountaintop castle of Montsegur to view the annual ‘solar phenomenon’ in the donjon tower room. Some 35 to 40 pilgrims from Argentina, England, Norway, Germany and other more exotic ports of call huddled in the pre-dawn darkness, praying that the clouds would part and allow a beam or two through. A local television crew from Toulouse was conducting vox-pop interviews, asking various members of the crowd whether they were there for religious or spiritual reasons, but no-one seemed to be able to give them a straightforward answer.