Tuesday, Pau Airport 9.30am. France is an hour ahead so this is 8.30am in English money – 4am start…….
Morale is high, despite an unseasonably cold and damp weather forecast. As we whip along the motorway we see the high mountains ahead, crested with snow.
11 am: The GPS informs us we have arrived so we take a left turn searching for “Velo Pyrenees”, and find it 5 minutes later hidden up an unsigned track on the right.
First Impressions are favourable. We enter a courtyard through massive wooden gates
Lee and Julie, our hosts, are effusive in their welcome. We are taken to our rooms, a wood panelled attic, divided into two bedrooms and a bathroom. We unpack, and head downstairs to the sitting room, for a welcome cup of tea, and a browse through the extensive collection of cycling and run routes. This being hilly country, all the routes come with a profile and a total of the metres of climbing.
More tea and some of Mick’s flapjacks, and we decide on an “easy” route to test our bikes. The reality is 67k ride over a couple of small cols one of 150m & the other 300m. Overall though, the ride takes us up and down though little roads, and countless tiny villages. We climb over 1000m in all, and arrive back glowing after 4 hours (16kph average speed ?!)
Cycling bit done, now the eating….
We have signed up for the evening meal with wine @15 euros each.
We steadily eat our way through three courses of home cooked (and mostly home grown) food, plus a couple of bottles of wine.
At the end of the meal we all agree to eat in for the rest of the trip.
There is a little rain during the night and despite the groans and moans of rutting deer, we sleep well.
Over a substantial breakfast of crusty bead, croissant, coffee, fruit & cereal, we discuss the days ride, deciding on a ride over to the next river valley, thence up the first category Col de Aspin. First we have to go to the local “Intersport”, as I have forgotten to bring cycling shorts, and Chris has had two puncture and split a tyre.
Eventually we head off, following a route which undulates in a dramatic fashion, so much so that it takes us (with a few stops to argue about the route) two hours to get 30k. By this time breakfast has worn off, and I spot a sign in a little hotel offering “le plat de jour” at 10 euros. I am the only French speaker, so Mick and Chris have no choice but to follow my lead or starve. The restaurant is crowded, I order “trios plat de jour et un petit pichet de vin rouge”. Bread wine and water arrive, follow by Salad and Pizza. Then Steak & Chips, Mick starts to complain at the quantities of food, and it is then that we notice that outside it is raining hard. Then a Basque pudding arrives, then coffee, and it is still raining hard. Eventually we pay our 10 euros & leave.
None of us dare to cop out, so we head off towards the Col de Aspin. 10k further on, the road ramps up and we start to climb. The rain eases off somewhat as we go higher, the effort of the climb warming us, near the top we meet a few cows, and at last crest the summit at 1500 metres, the highest we have been. Up here the wind is blowing hard, as we are still soaking wet, we cool quickly, & decide we have no option but to return the way we came as quick as possible.. There follows 12k of steep downhill. We make it down, back into the rain, but everything is numb. Once we are off the mountain, we are flat out, maximum effort as we try to warm up. Gradually it works, getting us home, luke warm, in half the time. 108k and 1800m climbing for the day!
Another excellent three course meal, and we are to bed early. It is not the rutting of deer, or snore which wakes us in the night, rather the incessant rain.
Breakfast, and we discuss the ride with two other guests. The plan is to make an attempt on the Porte de Bales, which is close by (in case it starts raining again), but is also the highest and steepest peak in the locality ( a Hors Category in last years Tour de France). It takes fifteen minutes for the five of us to reach the start of the climb (1200 metres in 18 kilometres). The youngsters rush off (where angels fear to tread), leaving Mick and I plodding up the lower slopes, after a while ( my knee is sore) I drop behind and Mick slowly distances me. There is no rain, but as the kilometres slowly pass, the air becomes misty. Suddenly I am confronted by a herd of Cows. Not sure what to do, but loath to stop completely, I make a lot of loud cowman type noises, and they part and let me through. Shortly after this I am caught by a slim cyclist travelling at twice my speed with a fast cadence, it our host Lee !
He tucks in beside me and explains that there is snow at the top of the Porte de Bales, which he has seen from down below. He leaves me to catch up with the others. Apparently also because of the snow (the first of the autumn) the local farmers are bringing the cattle down off the high pastures. I carry on up, but soon the grass is covered with snow, then patches appear on the road, and at 1500metres, covers the road. I walk for a little way, then decide to turn and head back down to more temperate climes. I have fallen off too many times already in snow and Ice. Half an hour later I am sitting shivering in a restaurant at the foot of the climb, wondering about the others. They make it over the top and down the other side as the photos prove!
Friday, our last day, dawns fair. We have decided to attempt the small climbs we did on the first day plus two other bigger climbs, passing into Spain on the way. The first third of the ride over a lot of undulations and the first two climbs, is hard. We stop at the Fabio Casartelli Memorial on the lower slopes of the Porte de Aspet, then carry on over the Col de Mente to stop in Saint Beat for Coffee and a slice of Quiche. Mick and Chris are a bit flaky about continuing, but having failed to make the Porte de Bales, I am keen for the ride to continue, we set off; unusually with me in front. After a few miles I look behind, and no sign of Mick & Chris. Thinking they have returned, I press on with greater urgency into Spain, and stop at the final town before the last climb back into France, the Col de Portillion. I am tucking into Coffee & Toast, when who should I see but Mick and Chris. I shout and we are reunited. They have been to a supermarket to buy Coca Cola!
We are soon at the foot of the Col de Portillion, and the climb starts in earnest. On the way down we nearly loose Chris who, racing with Mick, goes into a corner too fast, and uses his helmet to slow down. He comes out of it shaken but unscathed, which is fortunate. We cycle off the mountain into Louchon for the final 30k of the ride, slightly downhill, following the river valley buck to our base. A couple of tough little climbs in the last few kilometres, and we are home.
I am hoping to organise a week visit to Velo Pyrenees in May 2008. www.velopyrenees.com Cost
approx £250 for flight & B&B based upon shared accommodation.
Email me if you are interested simon.edye@ntlworld.com