Bateman
Registered user
I've just returned from the Pyrenees. Hopefully the following will be of use to others planning a trip in the area. Here's the "executive summary" in case the detailed report becomes long and dull 
:
Booked through Brittany ferries as a complete holiday - £460 total for 2 bikes, 2 riders, 4 berth cabin on the Plymouth Santander Route, 3 nights B&B in a hotel in Gavarnie, on the French side. Its quite a ride from Santander to the middle of the Pyrenees. The roads and scenery are a match for most things you'll find in the Alps, and seem to be quieter. The Col D'Aubisque is superb - one of my favourite roads, hugging the side of the mountain and free from traffic, with great scenery. Always take a spare pair of gloves and make sure your waterproofs are tried and tested in heavy rain before you go. Lourdes is the religious equivalent of Eurodisney, and Pamplona wasn't quite the small, cobbled street spanish village I thought it would be. Ok, here is the full report.....
Day 1 - Bournemouth to Plymouth
I was booked on the Sunday 4.00pm ferry from Plymouth to Santander, due to arrive at 12.30 noon the next day. My friend Mike was joining me on his KTM 950SM. A pretty uneventful ride to Plymouth saw us arrive and board the Pont Aven in good time and head to the cabin. It is well worth the £19.50 to eat in "Le Flora" and even better if you can book the table in advance by email as there is a lengthy queue at 4.00pm when they start to take bookings for the evening services. The self service cafe is good enough, but you will be finished in 30 minutes and its a noisy, busy place. Le Flora is more like a proper restaurant with waitress service and good food and drink. Mike and I spent close to two hours in there and shared a bottle of wine. Very romantic
After dinner we had a stroll on the deck, had a beer from the bar and then went to the 9.30 cinema show to watch Iron Man. We headed back to the cabin after that.
Day 2 - Santander to the Pyrenees
We woke up the next morning at about 9.00am. Showers, breakfast and a relax on the deck for an hour took us to about noon and the boat docked into Santander at 12.30pm. It took them an hour to let us off and we jumped onto the motorway for Bilbao, which is actually a Michelin scenic route for much of it. We turned off at Junction 14 and headed south east for Tolosa and then the N130 to Pamplona. The intention was to take the bypass around Pamplona but the SatNav had other ideas and took us right into the city centre. Mike and I split up in the busy traffic and were separated for about 15 minutes. This is where the walkie talkies and Maplin headsets came in handy. With a kilometre or so of reception, we were soon able to find each other again. From Pamplona we took the N240 to Jaca. This is a great road - fast with long swooping bends and nice scenery. Mike was enjoying it so much that he missed the turning north for the A137 to head over the Col de la Pierre S Martin by about 10 miles, so we continued to Jaca, refuelled and then took the N260 and A136 north and across into France. This is a nice run as you pass over the Pyrenees, through a couple of ski resorts and into France. There is a Repsol petrol station on the left side as you leave Formigal - it is worth stopping and filling up there as petrol in Spain is about 30 cents a litre cheaper than France.
We stopped briefly for a few photos on the French side of the border.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540122040/" title="France-Spain Border by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2040/2540122040_db77308a01_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="France-Spain Border" /></a>
It was later than we had planned at this stage - probably close to 7pm and we still had about 60 miles of mountain roads and passes until our destination (and dinner…). The next part of the route would take us through Eaux Bonnes and over the Col D’Aubisque. It was a wonderful ride up to the pass but we weren’t expecting to be met by a big “Route Barre” and metal barrier at the top approach to the pass. The sign said that the barrier was closed at 8pm each evening - we arrived at 8.10pm.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539302047/" title="Col D'Aubisque - Ferme! by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/2539302047_41cb74c106_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque - Ferme!" /></a>
We pondered over whether to take the bikes around the edge and ride the pass anyway, but as we weren’t sure how long it was or whether we could exit at the other side, we ended up going all the way back to Eaux Bonnes and then going the long way round via Lourdes. Here is Mike looking for a multigrain bar as it dawned on us that we would be missing dinner. It was 9.10pm French time and we phoned the hotle to say we would be late - the hotel thought it would take a further 2 hours from this point so they gave us the keycode to the door and wished us a bon route!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539304081/" title="Eaux Bonnes by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2539304081_223e0a2515_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Eaux Bonnes" /></a>
A couple of days later we would find out that we could have snuck through the closed barrier after all….
We rode a long loop via Lourdes where we tried a number of 24h petrol stations until finally we found one that accepted Mike’s credit card. Champion didn’t seem to work but L’Eclerc did. I don’t think we got to the hotel until about midnight - Gavarnie is at the end of a scenic route but in hindsight probably wasn’t a great choice of base as there was always a 10 mile ride up the same road to get to the town, and back again to leave.
Day 3 - Col du Tourmalet and Col D‘Aspin
The original plan for today was an ambitious ride to Andorra and back, but one look outside the window blew that plan apart as it was raining heavily. We were also fairly late getting up and after sitting down to a typical continental breakfast - pain au chocolat, croissants, yoghurt, bread and coffee, we were kitted up and heading off by about 10am.
We rode 10 miles to Luz St Saveur which is where the Col du Tourmalet begins/ends. This is one of the more challenging sections of the tour de france. It was very wet - here is a picture of Mike looking back down the valley as we began the ride up.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540127756/" title="Col De Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2540127756_c3b82a510a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col De Tourmalet" /></a>
The weather quickly turned worse - at about 1500m it was lightly snowing which was quite exciting.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539307915/" title="Snow on Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2152/2539307915_5a09203272_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Snow on Tourmalet" /></a>
It was also getting much colder - the heated grips weren’t a great help as they did nothing for the outside of my hands, and summer leather gloves were a mistake in these conditions. Here is a picture looking up to where we were going to ride:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540131784/" title="DSC02323 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/2540131784_681388204e_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02323" /></a>
We rode fairly slowly to the top of the pass - there were a few Spanish having a snowball fight and they took photos of us - I think they were hoping one of us would slip off in the snow, which we nearly did. The east side of the Col was slightly worse - the snow was much higher on the sides, and falling heavier, and the road was very slushy. It was a slow first gear crawl down the first kilometre or two until the snow turned back to rain and the roads cleared a little. Great fun though, especially watching Mike slide his KTM around - not on purpose I should add/. It was bloody cold though - I definitely will be getting a good pair of waterproof gloves to take as a back up next time. I was also wearing an open face Momo helmet on this time - it was actually much better than I was expecting in the rain and snow but a decent facemask would have been good instead of the thin Bike Mag giveaway neck tube I had.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539311773/" title="DSC02328 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2539311773_708f3c9f58_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02328" /></a>
A few km further down the Tourmalet and there is an Elan petrol station in a hamlet called La Mongie. I wasn’t expecting petrol prices to be quite so high in france - I paid between 1.55 and 1.60 euros a litre at most places I filled up in, compared with 1.20 in Spain.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540135124/" title="DSC02329 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2200/2540135124_c708c9088e_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02329" /></a>
Next up was the Col D’Aspin. There are signs everywhere as the Cols are linked on what is called the Route Du Cols - they are also very popular with cyclists. Aspin was a nice ride - fairly low (about 1500m) and quite a twisy road mainly amongst the trees.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2541936477/" title="Col D'Aspin by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2177/2541936477_9dc15f103a_o.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Col D'Aspin" /></a>
Aspin ends/starts near a little town called Arreau. We stopped there for lunch but as the weather was getting much worse, we decided to head for Lourdes, drink some of the holy healking water and then find somewhere for dinner. I only took one more photo on this day, mainly because the weather was too bad, but it was still great fun. Lourdes was an interesting experience as I really wasn’t expecting such religious tackiness. Row after row of junk souvenir shops selling plastic bottles to fill up with water. We wandered down to the Sanctuary and I sampled some of the spring water that comes from the Grotte. Apparently there have been 67 official healings through drinking the water though I suspect Jack Daniels may be more effective. 2008 is the 150th anniversary of the sightings of the apparitions so it is busier than usual and I think the Pope is going there in September.
After Lourdes, we headed back to Luz St Saveur for dinner in a nice hotel by the river, and then back to our hotel in Gavarnie. No chance of a nightcap or late night Jacuzzi as everything was shut up, so it was straight to bed, although we did hang all our gear up in the boiler room to dry out overnight. My waterproofs didn’t work that well which was surprising - I actually got pretty wet so I’ll also be looking into new waterproof kit. I don’t mind riding in the rain as long as I stay dry.
Day 4 - Across into Spain - the N260
We woke early today - about 6.45am - as the weather forecast was good for the morning at least. We were showered, fed and kitted up ready to leave by about 8am. The plan today was to head back over the Col du Tourmalet and Aspin, then continue over another Col to Luchon, over into Spain and pick up the N260 back towards Jaca, before looping back over to France and hopefully across the col D’Aubisque if we could get there before the 8pm closing time.
Tourmalet was like a completely different road today - the sun was shining , the road was dry and the views were stunning.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542016907/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2542016907_8df92dc9fe_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
Both sides of the Col were equally good to ride - this picture is on the east side as we were going down I think.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542025845/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2056/2542025845_9246c404c2_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
The views were nicer riding down the east side - there is a small ski station on the way down which also has the Pic du Midi - a cable car that takes you high up to a superb vantage point over the Pyrenees, though we didn’t go on it. The views from the road were good enough:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542860608/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2542860608_35f2bdbea8_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
The Col D’Aspin was also like riding a different road although much of the area is designated a Zone Pastorale, which means the animals can roam freely on the roads, so you need to be prepared for what may be in the middle of the road…
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539331365/" title="DSC02378 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2112/2539331365_723cc9e3b7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02378" /></a>
Or in the middle of a hairpin bend….
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539333391/" title="DSC02385 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3047/2539333391_2b7fb22a6a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02385" /></a>
From Arreau, we continued on the fabulous D618 to Luchon (on the map it is called Bagneres de luchon but all the roadsigns refer to it only as Luchon). This looked like a great town and probably somewhere that I would stay on a future trip as it seemed full of nice little cafes and was better placed for riding the roads around this area. There is a little road that connects Luchon with Spain via a small pass - it’s the N141 that rides over the Coll Del Portillon - this was also a cracking little ride - not much in the way of scenery, but a nice, narrow twisty ride up and over into Spain.
It probably took about 3 hours to get to this point, including photo stops and a drink stop. We continued down the N230 in Spain to Vielha, and then went through the long tunnel and south to Villaler until we hit the turning for the N260. This was a real mix of narrow twisty road, sometimes poorly surfaced and at other times great. There was a nice gorge although it was very busy with lorries going both ways which would cause delays.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540159092/" title="DSC02392 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2540159092_f09745da56_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02392" /></a>
We stopped at a little town called Ainsa for lunch before heading back along the N260. In between gorges and some nice passes, much of the road runs through wide open flood plains. The weather took a turn for the worse at this point and the raindrops were the size of hailstones and pretty painful to ride through.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543031624/" title="The N260 near Ainsa by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3114/2543031624_46ddd03973_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The N260 near Ainsa" /></a>
From Ainsa we rode to Biescas and picked up the A136 again to head north into France - this was the route we had taken on our first day after leaving Santander. However, as we were making pretty good time we thought we would easily make the Col D’Aubisque before the barrier closed at 8pm. We were right about the time - we reached the Pass entrance at about 6pm. What we hadn’t seen last time was the sign saying that the Pass doesn’t open until June. It was May 28th. However, we weren’t going to backtrack this time, so we squeezed the bikes through a narrow muddy gap and continued along the road this is the D918 that runs to Argeles-Gazost. This was my favourite ride of the whole trip, partly because we didn’t know if we would be able to get off the pass at the other end but also because there was no other traffic for the whole length and the little road twisted and hugged the side of the mountain.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542230543/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2542230543_62eb4e2e8b_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
There was a couple of little tunnels that were dark and wet and felt like you were entering a mineshaft, so I let Mike go first….
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543063582/" title="Col D'Aubisque Tunnel by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2198/2543063582_bedae77eda_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque Tunnel" /></a>
When we got to the end of the road, there was another barrier but it was easy to ride across the grass to the side and exit onto the main section. The photo below looks to where we had ridden - you can just make out where the narrow road hugs the face of the mountain in the centre of the picture before winding its way up and over the mountains in the distance on the right hand side.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543072014/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2543072014_6e67879620_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
Here we are looking pleased that we’d managed to squeeze around the barrier at the other side of the Col. Shortly after taking this, we met a guy from Manchester who was cycle touring - he had his tent and everything packed on his bike and headed down the road where we had just ridden and was going to set up a wild camp somewhere.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543082128/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2543082128_0300d5b8a9_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
The run back to Luz St Saveur was very scenic - as dramatic as most of the views I had seen around the Alps:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542270583/" title="DSC02424 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/2542270583_ce96666e78_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02424" /></a>
At Luz St Sauveur we ate dinner in the same hotel as the previous evening - a three course 12 euro menu that was great for the price - and then we headed back to Gavarnie for our last night in the hotel.
Day 5 - Back to Santander
We needed to check in for the ferry in Santander at 2.15pm so decided to take the motorways back towards Biarritz and hopefully find somewhere nice by the sea to stop for lunch. Here is the hotel we had stayed in for three nights in Gavarnie:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543115464/" title="Hotel Le Marbore, Gavarnie by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2176/2543115464_ab1455e891_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Hotel Le Marbore, Gavarnie" /></a>
We left Gavarnie and headed north to Lourdes and then on to the A64 at junction 11 - this photo is looking back from the peage to where we had just come from, with the Pyrenees in the distance.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543123148/" title="Leaving the Pyrenees by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2543123148_37d96e1e04_o.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Leaving the Pyrenees" /></a>
We didn’t count on this section taking as long as it did - the motorway sections from Pau to Biarritz and on to Bilbao were very dull and hard work in the strong winds. We managed a brief stop at a town called Zarautz, west of San Sebastien, and followed a lovely stretch of coastal road for a few miles, which was well wortth pulling off the auto route for - the N634 from Zarautz.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539366139/" title="DSC02429 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2539366139_12ced08ced_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02429" /></a>
Next time I think I will get up earlier and take the scenic routes back to the ferry. Nothing else of any real interest from this point. We arrived at Santander at check in time - 2.15pm, enjoyed a nice dinner in Le Flora that evening especially as the waitress brought us a Chablis Premier Cru instead of the el cheapo we had ordered, and I watched a strange, good-but-weird-ending film in the cinema - the Tommy Lee Jones Country of old men or something.
Day 6 - Back home
The only thing to mention here - always have your camera with you. I had an early morning stroll on deck as we pulled into Plymouth and we were joined by a couple of dolphins riding the bow waves. Great to see but unfortunately my camera was in the cabin.
And that’s that. A great trip, as good as the Alps trips I have done and different than the Picos mainly because there were more roads and the scenery is more dramatic. I didn’t get to do any of the roads near Andorra and if I go back next time, I’m not sure I will base myself in one hotel as it means riding many of the same roads over and over. That wasn’t a problem in Andermatt, Switzerland a couple of years ago as there were such a variety of roads heading in all directions, but there doesn’t seem to be so many in the Pyrenees. The D918, D618 and N260 are all great roads, just don’t forget a good set of waterproofs, a spare pair of waterproof gloves and some extra layers if the temperature drops. And fill up in Spain if you can. Mike's KTM 950SM looked great fun - he was way faster than me on all the roads but had to refuel every 120 miles and didn't have heated grips
Muchos Gracias
:Booked through Brittany ferries as a complete holiday - £460 total for 2 bikes, 2 riders, 4 berth cabin on the Plymouth Santander Route, 3 nights B&B in a hotel in Gavarnie, on the French side. Its quite a ride from Santander to the middle of the Pyrenees. The roads and scenery are a match for most things you'll find in the Alps, and seem to be quieter. The Col D'Aubisque is superb - one of my favourite roads, hugging the side of the mountain and free from traffic, with great scenery. Always take a spare pair of gloves and make sure your waterproofs are tried and tested in heavy rain before you go. Lourdes is the religious equivalent of Eurodisney, and Pamplona wasn't quite the small, cobbled street spanish village I thought it would be. Ok, here is the full report.....
Day 1 - Bournemouth to Plymouth
I was booked on the Sunday 4.00pm ferry from Plymouth to Santander, due to arrive at 12.30 noon the next day. My friend Mike was joining me on his KTM 950SM. A pretty uneventful ride to Plymouth saw us arrive and board the Pont Aven in good time and head to the cabin. It is well worth the £19.50 to eat in "Le Flora" and even better if you can book the table in advance by email as there is a lengthy queue at 4.00pm when they start to take bookings for the evening services. The self service cafe is good enough, but you will be finished in 30 minutes and its a noisy, busy place. Le Flora is more like a proper restaurant with waitress service and good food and drink. Mike and I spent close to two hours in there and shared a bottle of wine. Very romantic
After dinner we had a stroll on the deck, had a beer from the bar and then went to the 9.30 cinema show to watch Iron Man. We headed back to the cabin after that.Day 2 - Santander to the Pyrenees
We woke up the next morning at about 9.00am. Showers, breakfast and a relax on the deck for an hour took us to about noon and the boat docked into Santander at 12.30pm. It took them an hour to let us off and we jumped onto the motorway for Bilbao, which is actually a Michelin scenic route for much of it. We turned off at Junction 14 and headed south east for Tolosa and then the N130 to Pamplona. The intention was to take the bypass around Pamplona but the SatNav had other ideas and took us right into the city centre. Mike and I split up in the busy traffic and were separated for about 15 minutes. This is where the walkie talkies and Maplin headsets came in handy. With a kilometre or so of reception, we were soon able to find each other again. From Pamplona we took the N240 to Jaca. This is a great road - fast with long swooping bends and nice scenery. Mike was enjoying it so much that he missed the turning north for the A137 to head over the Col de la Pierre S Martin by about 10 miles, so we continued to Jaca, refuelled and then took the N260 and A136 north and across into France. This is a nice run as you pass over the Pyrenees, through a couple of ski resorts and into France. There is a Repsol petrol station on the left side as you leave Formigal - it is worth stopping and filling up there as petrol in Spain is about 30 cents a litre cheaper than France.
We stopped briefly for a few photos on the French side of the border.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540122040/" title="France-Spain Border by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2040/2540122040_db77308a01_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="France-Spain Border" /></a>
It was later than we had planned at this stage - probably close to 7pm and we still had about 60 miles of mountain roads and passes until our destination (and dinner…). The next part of the route would take us through Eaux Bonnes and over the Col D’Aubisque. It was a wonderful ride up to the pass but we weren’t expecting to be met by a big “Route Barre” and metal barrier at the top approach to the pass. The sign said that the barrier was closed at 8pm each evening - we arrived at 8.10pm.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539302047/" title="Col D'Aubisque - Ferme! by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/2539302047_41cb74c106_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque - Ferme!" /></a>
We pondered over whether to take the bikes around the edge and ride the pass anyway, but as we weren’t sure how long it was or whether we could exit at the other side, we ended up going all the way back to Eaux Bonnes and then going the long way round via Lourdes. Here is Mike looking for a multigrain bar as it dawned on us that we would be missing dinner. It was 9.10pm French time and we phoned the hotle to say we would be late - the hotel thought it would take a further 2 hours from this point so they gave us the keycode to the door and wished us a bon route!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539304081/" title="Eaux Bonnes by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2539304081_223e0a2515_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Eaux Bonnes" /></a>
A couple of days later we would find out that we could have snuck through the closed barrier after all….
We rode a long loop via Lourdes where we tried a number of 24h petrol stations until finally we found one that accepted Mike’s credit card. Champion didn’t seem to work but L’Eclerc did. I don’t think we got to the hotel until about midnight - Gavarnie is at the end of a scenic route but in hindsight probably wasn’t a great choice of base as there was always a 10 mile ride up the same road to get to the town, and back again to leave.
Day 3 - Col du Tourmalet and Col D‘Aspin
The original plan for today was an ambitious ride to Andorra and back, but one look outside the window blew that plan apart as it was raining heavily. We were also fairly late getting up and after sitting down to a typical continental breakfast - pain au chocolat, croissants, yoghurt, bread and coffee, we were kitted up and heading off by about 10am.
We rode 10 miles to Luz St Saveur which is where the Col du Tourmalet begins/ends. This is one of the more challenging sections of the tour de france. It was very wet - here is a picture of Mike looking back down the valley as we began the ride up.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540127756/" title="Col De Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2540127756_c3b82a510a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col De Tourmalet" /></a>
The weather quickly turned worse - at about 1500m it was lightly snowing which was quite exciting.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539307915/" title="Snow on Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2152/2539307915_5a09203272_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Snow on Tourmalet" /></a>
It was also getting much colder - the heated grips weren’t a great help as they did nothing for the outside of my hands, and summer leather gloves were a mistake in these conditions. Here is a picture looking up to where we were going to ride:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540131784/" title="DSC02323 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/2540131784_681388204e_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02323" /></a>
We rode fairly slowly to the top of the pass - there were a few Spanish having a snowball fight and they took photos of us - I think they were hoping one of us would slip off in the snow, which we nearly did. The east side of the Col was slightly worse - the snow was much higher on the sides, and falling heavier, and the road was very slushy. It was a slow first gear crawl down the first kilometre or two until the snow turned back to rain and the roads cleared a little. Great fun though, especially watching Mike slide his KTM around - not on purpose I should add/. It was bloody cold though - I definitely will be getting a good pair of waterproof gloves to take as a back up next time. I was also wearing an open face Momo helmet on this time - it was actually much better than I was expecting in the rain and snow but a decent facemask would have been good instead of the thin Bike Mag giveaway neck tube I had.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539311773/" title="DSC02328 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/2539311773_708f3c9f58_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02328" /></a>
A few km further down the Tourmalet and there is an Elan petrol station in a hamlet called La Mongie. I wasn’t expecting petrol prices to be quite so high in france - I paid between 1.55 and 1.60 euros a litre at most places I filled up in, compared with 1.20 in Spain.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540135124/" title="DSC02329 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2200/2540135124_c708c9088e_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02329" /></a>
Next up was the Col D’Aspin. There are signs everywhere as the Cols are linked on what is called the Route Du Cols - they are also very popular with cyclists. Aspin was a nice ride - fairly low (about 1500m) and quite a twisy road mainly amongst the trees.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2541936477/" title="Col D'Aspin by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2177/2541936477_9dc15f103a_o.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Col D'Aspin" /></a>
Aspin ends/starts near a little town called Arreau. We stopped there for lunch but as the weather was getting much worse, we decided to head for Lourdes, drink some of the holy healking water and then find somewhere for dinner. I only took one more photo on this day, mainly because the weather was too bad, but it was still great fun. Lourdes was an interesting experience as I really wasn’t expecting such religious tackiness. Row after row of junk souvenir shops selling plastic bottles to fill up with water. We wandered down to the Sanctuary and I sampled some of the spring water that comes from the Grotte. Apparently there have been 67 official healings through drinking the water though I suspect Jack Daniels may be more effective. 2008 is the 150th anniversary of the sightings of the apparitions so it is busier than usual and I think the Pope is going there in September.
After Lourdes, we headed back to Luz St Saveur for dinner in a nice hotel by the river, and then back to our hotel in Gavarnie. No chance of a nightcap or late night Jacuzzi as everything was shut up, so it was straight to bed, although we did hang all our gear up in the boiler room to dry out overnight. My waterproofs didn’t work that well which was surprising - I actually got pretty wet so I’ll also be looking into new waterproof kit. I don’t mind riding in the rain as long as I stay dry.
Day 4 - Across into Spain - the N260
We woke early today - about 6.45am - as the weather forecast was good for the morning at least. We were showered, fed and kitted up ready to leave by about 8am. The plan today was to head back over the Col du Tourmalet and Aspin, then continue over another Col to Luchon, over into Spain and pick up the N260 back towards Jaca, before looping back over to France and hopefully across the col D’Aubisque if we could get there before the 8pm closing time.
Tourmalet was like a completely different road today - the sun was shining , the road was dry and the views were stunning.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542016907/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2542016907_8df92dc9fe_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
Both sides of the Col were equally good to ride - this picture is on the east side as we were going down I think.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542025845/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2056/2542025845_9246c404c2_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
The views were nicer riding down the east side - there is a small ski station on the way down which also has the Pic du Midi - a cable car that takes you high up to a superb vantage point over the Pyrenees, though we didn’t go on it. The views from the road were good enough:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542860608/" title="Col du Tourmalet by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2542860608_35f2bdbea8_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col du Tourmalet" /></a>
The Col D’Aspin was also like riding a different road although much of the area is designated a Zone Pastorale, which means the animals can roam freely on the roads, so you need to be prepared for what may be in the middle of the road…
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539331365/" title="DSC02378 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2112/2539331365_723cc9e3b7_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02378" /></a>
Or in the middle of a hairpin bend….
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539333391/" title="DSC02385 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3047/2539333391_2b7fb22a6a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02385" /></a>
From Arreau, we continued on the fabulous D618 to Luchon (on the map it is called Bagneres de luchon but all the roadsigns refer to it only as Luchon). This looked like a great town and probably somewhere that I would stay on a future trip as it seemed full of nice little cafes and was better placed for riding the roads around this area. There is a little road that connects Luchon with Spain via a small pass - it’s the N141 that rides over the Coll Del Portillon - this was also a cracking little ride - not much in the way of scenery, but a nice, narrow twisty ride up and over into Spain.
It probably took about 3 hours to get to this point, including photo stops and a drink stop. We continued down the N230 in Spain to Vielha, and then went through the long tunnel and south to Villaler until we hit the turning for the N260. This was a real mix of narrow twisty road, sometimes poorly surfaced and at other times great. There was a nice gorge although it was very busy with lorries going both ways which would cause delays.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2540159092/" title="DSC02392 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2540159092_f09745da56_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="DSC02392" /></a>
We stopped at a little town called Ainsa for lunch before heading back along the N260. In between gorges and some nice passes, much of the road runs through wide open flood plains. The weather took a turn for the worse at this point and the raindrops were the size of hailstones and pretty painful to ride through.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543031624/" title="The N260 near Ainsa by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3114/2543031624_46ddd03973_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The N260 near Ainsa" /></a>
From Ainsa we rode to Biescas and picked up the A136 again to head north into France - this was the route we had taken on our first day after leaving Santander. However, as we were making pretty good time we thought we would easily make the Col D’Aubisque before the barrier closed at 8pm. We were right about the time - we reached the Pass entrance at about 6pm. What we hadn’t seen last time was the sign saying that the Pass doesn’t open until June. It was May 28th. However, we weren’t going to backtrack this time, so we squeezed the bikes through a narrow muddy gap and continued along the road this is the D918 that runs to Argeles-Gazost. This was my favourite ride of the whole trip, partly because we didn’t know if we would be able to get off the pass at the other end but also because there was no other traffic for the whole length and the little road twisted and hugged the side of the mountain.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542230543/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2542230543_62eb4e2e8b_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
There was a couple of little tunnels that were dark and wet and felt like you were entering a mineshaft, so I let Mike go first….
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543063582/" title="Col D'Aubisque Tunnel by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2198/2543063582_bedae77eda_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque Tunnel" /></a>
When we got to the end of the road, there was another barrier but it was easy to ride across the grass to the side and exit onto the main section. The photo below looks to where we had ridden - you can just make out where the narrow road hugs the face of the mountain in the centre of the picture before winding its way up and over the mountains in the distance on the right hand side.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543072014/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2543072014_6e67879620_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
Here we are looking pleased that we’d managed to squeeze around the barrier at the other side of the Col. Shortly after taking this, we met a guy from Manchester who was cycle touring - he had his tent and everything packed on his bike and headed down the road where we had just ridden and was going to set up a wild camp somewhere.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543082128/" title="Col D'Aubisque by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3121/2543082128_0300d5b8a9_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Col D'Aubisque" /></a>
The run back to Luz St Saveur was very scenic - as dramatic as most of the views I had seen around the Alps:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2542270583/" title="DSC02424 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/2542270583_ce96666e78_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02424" /></a>
At Luz St Sauveur we ate dinner in the same hotel as the previous evening - a three course 12 euro menu that was great for the price - and then we headed back to Gavarnie for our last night in the hotel.
Day 5 - Back to Santander
We needed to check in for the ferry in Santander at 2.15pm so decided to take the motorways back towards Biarritz and hopefully find somewhere nice by the sea to stop for lunch. Here is the hotel we had stayed in for three nights in Gavarnie:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543115464/" title="Hotel Le Marbore, Gavarnie by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2176/2543115464_ab1455e891_o.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Hotel Le Marbore, Gavarnie" /></a>
We left Gavarnie and headed north to Lourdes and then on to the A64 at junction 11 - this photo is looking back from the peage to where we had just come from, with the Pyrenees in the distance.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2543123148/" title="Leaving the Pyrenees by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2543123148_37d96e1e04_o.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Leaving the Pyrenees" /></a>
We didn’t count on this section taking as long as it did - the motorway sections from Pau to Biarritz and on to Bilbao were very dull and hard work in the strong winds. We managed a brief stop at a town called Zarautz, west of San Sebastien, and followed a lovely stretch of coastal road for a few miles, which was well wortth pulling off the auto route for - the N634 from Zarautz.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadtosomewhere/2539366139/" title="DSC02429 by Apo_Bateman, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2539366139_12ced08ced_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="DSC02429" /></a>
Next time I think I will get up earlier and take the scenic routes back to the ferry. Nothing else of any real interest from this point. We arrived at Santander at check in time - 2.15pm, enjoyed a nice dinner in Le Flora that evening especially as the waitress brought us a Chablis Premier Cru instead of the el cheapo we had ordered, and I watched a strange, good-but-weird-ending film in the cinema - the Tommy Lee Jones Country of old men or something.
Day 6 - Back home
The only thing to mention here - always have your camera with you. I had an early morning stroll on deck as we pulled into Plymouth and we were joined by a couple of dolphins riding the bow waves. Great to see but unfortunately my camera was in the cabin.
And that’s that. A great trip, as good as the Alps trips I have done and different than the Picos mainly because there were more roads and the scenery is more dramatic. I didn’t get to do any of the roads near Andorra and if I go back next time, I’m not sure I will base myself in one hotel as it means riding many of the same roads over and over. That wasn’t a problem in Andermatt, Switzerland a couple of years ago as there were such a variety of roads heading in all directions, but there doesn’t seem to be so many in the Pyrenees. The D918, D618 and N260 are all great roads, just don’t forget a good set of waterproofs, a spare pair of waterproof gloves and some extra layers if the temperature drops. And fill up in Spain if you can. Mike's KTM 950SM looked great fun - he was way faster than me on all the roads but had to refuel every 120 miles and didn't have heated grips
Muchos Gracias
