Col du Tourmalet D918

[Sooty09]

Thanks for all the replies. We have been and done it, its good riding but its so hot at the moment 36c+ the tar was melting so the road crews had no option but throw grit down. Plenty about on the side roads but as we were one week + in front of the tour de France the route had been swept and the road edges trimmed with hanging flower boxes etc in each village to tart them up for the TV. The down side was the number of cycle clubs testing out each section. We went into Spain and found the roads were in much better condition but more limited in routing.

 

[Homer1968]

Came back from the Pyrenees last week and did the col du tourmalet and col d' Aspin. Brilliant twisty roads. Got to the top of the Col d' Aubisque on our first day heading for our hotel in Argeles Gazost, only to find the other side closed due to the previously mentioned re surfacing. A Much longer detour then en sued

 

[John Armstrong]

Think it'll be on the TdF today

 

[Ogmios]

Came back from the Pyrenees last week and did the col du tourmalet and col d' Aspin. Brilliant twisty roads. Got to the top of the Col d' Aubisque on our first day heading for our hotel in Argeles Gazost, only to find the other side closed due to the previously mentioned re surfacing. A Much longer detour then en sued

Which hotel?
we've stayed in the one on the main square (Hotel Du' Pyrenees? - how original a name! )
basic beds / but the foods good and the staff lovely, especially the camp waiter - he's a great laugh.

 

[Homer1968]

The hotel we stayed in was called L Arrieulat on avenue des pyrenees.
Brilliant place, clean reasonably priced and food to die for. The owner is a cordon bleu standard chef and the evening meals were tremendous.
Idealy situated for the main routes and petrol station is only 100 yards away.
If anyone wants the details pm me and ill send em through.
Oh forgot to say secure bike parking too and Hoergarden (white beer) on draft

 

[Ogmios]

i know where you mean. nice spot.

wish i was there now.

oh well.
back to the Real World for me.

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Think I heard on ITV4 coverage that it's Tour de France there tomorrow.

I had my worst ever ride on Col de Tourmalet. Zero visibility cloud, very slippy patches of smooth tarmac, the occasional dead sheep, and (I imagine) huge drop-offs. Makes me shiver now just thinking about it...

 

[skellum]

Think I heard on ITV4 coverage that it's Tour de France there tomorrow.

I had my worst ever ride on Col de Tourmalet. Zero visibility cloud, very slippy patches of smooth tarmac, the occasional dead sheep, and (I imagine) huge drop-offs. Makes me shiver now just thinking about it...

Did the above two weeks ago this Thursday - weather fantastic, roads newly sorted and painted ready for the race - couldn't be better!! Mind you, 2 years ago I crossed the Gross Glockner in July and expected nice weather only to get 2 inches of snow! luck of the draw I suppose...

 

[harley-metisse]

Col Du Tourmalet D918

Hi guys,

A mate and I did the 'cols' last year, linked the Tourmalet and Aspin, both were bloody great. We started off at the base of the Tourmalet in misty wet weather, all the locals say it's like that times, rode up through the mist and approaching the top we cleared the mist and wow !!
At the top we stopped and bought the T shirt etc, bright sunshine - felt like being on top of the world, views as far as my short-sighted eyeballs could see, incidentally a car that had parked beside of us was leaking water from overheating, a British Volvo, but I wasn't allowed to help - hope it wasn't one of you guys - sorry if it was, ha ha ha. The view was just like the photos already shown here, astounding.
Trust me, everyone should make the trip, it's really wasted on pushbikes. We also found a great little road in Spain, a really twisty road, to a town called 'Boltan' I think it was, crikey, 37 kms of pure corners, no straight longer than 200 mts at most, just came across it by accident, but that's touring for you.
Going again this year, across to Roscoff, 24th August, down to Grenoble, down the N85, Route Napolean, to Cannes and back to Santander for the 2nd of Sept, anyone got any roads to suggest ? One of the 'gang' has got a sat-nav this year, I hope.

 

[John Armstrong]

Think it'll be Boltana and the N260

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...B323GB323&q=boltaña&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

 

[littlemegdog]

D918

We stayed in the Pyrenees just along the D918 in Bun (just a few miles Argeles Gazost. Had fabulous weather and went to the Col Du Tourmalet and had a perfect day with clear skies.

It was a perfect place to stay with beautiful roads, also found the Col d'Aubisque closed and had a long diverted ride into Spain. It was open on the last day but we had a thunderstorm that night and missed it.

 

[muppix]

As you come over the top of Tourmalet and the cyclist statue is on your right, take the smaller of the two roads going down by bearing left. Utterly brilliant!