Pyrenees Addition

Richard
Sat 11th Sept
Jill left today but we are expected to continue the blog but have not found internet yet. Celia and I rode up to Pierrefitte today and I found the best hotel ever , elia hated it instantly , we had the biggest room yet with one window overlooking the noisy river that drowned out all unpleasant noises like traffic and C telling me to pack away my clothes. I spent hours lying on one of the 3 beds and even C admitted she had not seen me look as peaceful since leaving the farm . But the building was very old and not too clean and hotel man ( barman , receptionist ,waiter and everything else) was swarthy and only guardedly friendly , think he is a Basque seperatist. Best of all was the price E56 DBB for 2 people. Alec would have been proud of me. Things started to deteriorate when we went down for supper , when I asked for some ice for C's wine , hotel man glared and said what for. I bravely stood my ground and he reluctantly went off and came back with two iceblocks in his hand. The food was plentiful but C said was uneatable. next morning C wouldn't come down for breakfast , so I went down alone and found all the quest milling around in confusion , hotel man hadn't arrived. It was a really strange scene and I went back to fetch C so she could see real French people acting with no concern for tourist. by 9.30 no one had arrived so we went out of a side door to another hotel for coffee , I had to concide defeat and booked 2 rooms there. We found out hotelman was drunk the night before. This place is very clean and friendly and has loud traffic.
12th Sept
The next part is mainly for Alec who asked some technical questions of a competitive nature like which of us is in yellow and who is in the polka dot. Well until Jill left Rob was playing the part super domestique so it was difficult to tell. But on his return from Foix without Jill he rode an individual Time Trail from Lourdes to Pierrefitte with Panniers at 33 kmh which puts him fairly in yellow and he is far to strong to challenge?
13th Sept
However after riding to Col d'Aubisque I think I might have the Polka Dot in the bag except that Rob has a cunning plan to use C's bike on the Tourmalet tomorrow. When we set off up the Aubisque I hoped Rob would make the beginners mistake of starting too fast but he stayed with me for the first km before impatience got the better of him and he started pulling ahead. I thought I wouldn't see him again , but half way up he came into view and soon I was sitting on his wheel. Afterwards I pulled away to the top of the col. It is difficult for a first timer to imagine the length of these climbs. He also the excuse of having a heavy bike with no suitable gear for 8.5 % gradiant. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. I hope Rob's photography does it justice. Rob is a demon descender and sitting on his wheel on the descent reminded me of following down a steep ski run. A brillant day cycling.
14th Sept
I have talked Rob out of doing the Tourmalet and going to Gavarnie instead. This kills two birds with one stone. There are no more out of catorgary climbs on the route , so he cannot get enough points to get the Polka Dot jersey off my shoulders and secondly I've always wanted to vist Gavarnie after reading so much about it. It was everything I expected. Reminded me of Monte aux Sources in the Drakensberg. I will leave Rob to add his bit.

Robs comment

The last few days have been fantastic , the weather , scenery and company have all been perfect. My first Col was an unforgetable experience. The constant uphill climbs and screaming leg muscles was over shadowed by the beauty and sense of achievement of making the top. I started off extremely strongly and pushed well ahead of Richard , only to look behind to find him silently setting of my back wheel. I desparately needed an extra gear ( a fact that will be rectified next trip ). The Sat morning boys would love this experience and maybe we should look at substituting Rottnest for France , but we definitely need to find some hills to practice on. Will load photos next week when I catch up with Jill. We need to push on now Panniers ladden to our next stop Bagneres de Gorre. Eat your hearts out as this is the way to live life.

Banana break up the Gavarnie

End of climb, at Gavarnie

Gavarnie

Richard with polka dot bike at top of l'Aubisque

Top of l'Aubisque