Pyrenees coast to coast - CCCCC

Coast to Coast Col Connecting Cylce © 

Day 1 - Friday 19th June

We started at 11am on a beach in Biarritz. After dropping off the hire car at the airport, a second breakfast of bad supermarket ‘pizza’ and a dip in the Atlantic (my toes, all of Seth) the two of us set off heading South East towards the French Mediterranean, with the intention to cross the Pyrenees on the way.

- Clean, fresh and tidy cyclists clearly haven't started yet -

We quickly made it out of Biarritz into the undulating, distinctly Basque countryside; tidy gardens and houses with woodwork almost unanimously painted rust red, fancy new farm equipment compared to elsewhere in Pyrenees, restaurants open at lunch (!) and frontón courts in even the smallest towns for playing squash like Pelota. Arriving into a small town for lunch, we found the only shop closed for the afternoon break (1:30-4pm!) and the only restaurant serving large plates of omelette, sausage and potatoes so settled for the latter without hesitation. Pauline’s cookies made an excellent dessert, and we felt only slight guilty in such indulgence just a few hours ride in. 

- Seth digging into a 'well earned' lunch -

The first of two climbs over a ridge which would bring us out of Basque Country started off very steep (maybe up to 20% gradient), but offered lovely open views down the valley to the right running parallel to the ridge. This proved to be an unexpectedly hot sweaty climb, despite the grey cloud cover. Easily warm enough to descend without extra layers. Passed over a few minor Cols, before final one of the day - 1000m ascent over 9km ending in 13% gradient. I had to deploy an emergency Mars bar and Pain au Choc to get me to the top. Each car that passed heading down left a strong odour of hot brake pads. 

- Most Cols were well marked with stats. The slope in the picture certainly represents how it feels, if not the reality -

We ate couscous and salami with local goats cheese for dinner, followed by cherries and more Pan au C. Going to bed in the tent next to a dirt road with a partial view of the pink sky down the valley out of the hills. Big day tomorrow so hopefully a good sleep tonight. 

- Sunset down the valley to the flats -

Day 2 - Saturday 20th June

Woke up a couple times during the night with hot, restless legs – tried not to move around too much for fear of kicking (/pedalling) into Seth. Set off around 9am, after finishing off last night’s couscous leftovers and a pot of porridge. Lovely decent down the other side on a gentle gradient through high pastures while the clouds cleared revealing blue sky and impressive craggy peaks behind us, and snow-capped mountains ahead. A good spot for future camping with Nívea and clearly a popular route. All the way down we passed a continuous stream of lycra clad riders heading in the opposite  direction, most on bikes worth more than mine and Seth’s combined. 

Motored along the flat-ish valley floor, stopping at a Decathlon where Seth was unable to find a replacement spoke nipple to replace the broken one on his rear wheel. We also took the opportunity to pop into a bakery - which happened to be full of the flies which seem to swarm in parts of the Pyrenees, often ditching the grazing cows and horses in preference to slowly moving sweaty cycle tourists . With full tummies (especially mine) we set off up 1200m to Col D’Aubisque, along a well shaded road of very reasonable 6-8% gradient offering some excellent views onto spectacular high rock peaks and faces above a ski resort. We even managed to catch a pack of (elderly) riders probably 70+ years old before breaking out of the trees into the open slopes for the final few km to the Col. 

- Trading shade for impressive views heading up Col D’Aubisque -

- Giant bikes mark the top of the climb -

The decent was also beautiful, helped by the clear weather and the novelty of two short tunnels. A classy lunch of sandwiches in a Super-U car park followed the decent before we traced the valley up to the start of our biggest climb of the trip, Col du Tourmalet. After the highs of this morning, the first half of the climb was a real slog. Very hot, no views and enough tail wind to make the air feel stagnant without saving us effort. As the views started to improve half way up, clouds came in, into which we ascended to reach the Col. 

- Apparently the highest road in France, however wouldn't have known from the views. The clouds put an end to our ambition to follow a gravel track above the Col and up to the summit  -

The lengthy descent through thick cloud showed we had actually been lucky to climb up the clearer side of the mountain! A quick water stop in the town at the bottom set us up for our camp a gentle ride up the valley. While I prepared dinner – going off piste frying the chorizo and adding crème fresh to the couscous - Seth replaced his broken nipple, and setup the mesh inner tent without the fly sheet – explaining he thought it would give a nicer camping experience, I suspect in part to my unusually high wind he’d been listening to all day! So far knees have both had periods of light aching, the right one was fixed by some pedal cleat adjustment. Otherwise feeling good! 

- Good weather the whole trip meant we could spread out at camp. Seth tries to fix his broken spoke while I cook dinner. I little wash in the nearby stream added a touch of luxury to this spot -

Water stop, camping

Day 3 - Sunday 21st June

Waking up to an 8am alarm, we quickly downed porridge, wild pooped, pitched camp and headed up through the beautiful pastures of Col de Hourquette. Pic du Midi emerged over a hill giving us the summit views we missed yesterday. Passed several campervans to emerge at the Col, looking down onto the clouds filling the lower St Larry valley and flat planes towards Toulouse. 

- Heading up the lovely pastures of Col de Hourquette with Pic du Midi in the background - 

- The views from the top were equally impressive. The clouds had burned off by the time we reached the valley so we were treated to a day of blue sky - 

A very scenic, if chilly, decent into the St Lary valley headed with snow-capped peaks. Stopped to buy lunch and found a local medieval cake baker so obviously bought one to try. 

Working our way up an adjacent valley, we stopped at a ‘café’ for coffee. Turned out to also be a Tabac, Post Office, Pharmacy and local disco complete with disco ball and a shots bar. The server seemed to be dressed for the latter, or possibly some other service on offer! 

A steady climb over Col de Peyresourde into Luchon Valley where for the second time in as many weeks we battled the strong headwind blowing up the valley - Seth doing most of the work while I struggled to keep up to draft. Our final climb of the day up Col de Menté was another hot, steep slog. Fortunately, Pauline was waiting just over the top with Raspberry White Chocolate cake to power us down the other side and the 40km back to their house where I was thoroughly spoilt and overfed before going to sleep in a bed with feather pillows.

- Meet up at the top of Col de Menté for resupply of baking -

- Cinnamon buns did not last long -

Day 4 - Monday 22nd June

Continuing where Day 3 ended, the eating continued with a huge breakfast! Cereal, homemade cinnamon buns and sourdough with eggs. Following the River Salat through mostly flat plans with a slight tailwind made the legs feel strong, or perhaps it was the last 12 hours of R&R! 

From the hippy town of Massat, we enjoyed the steady gradient and shaded climb up Col de Port, often hitting 15km/hr (maybe due to the second course of coffee and buns at the base). 

- Communal drinking water points were usually to be found in even the smallest of towns, and were our main source of water -

During the steady decent into the next valley, terrain became more arid, with huge rock faces apparently offering excellent sport climbing routes. Selecting an Aldi for our now routine supermarket car park lunch, we filled us for the steady climb on a busy road up to Ax-les-Thermes. The traffic served as a reminder how spoilt we’ve been by the quiet roads most of this tour. Fortunately, a steady tailwind helped this section pass as quickly as possible. I even took turns up front with Seth spinning along on my back wheel! 

- Typical spot for a quick lunch -

The upcoming Col de Paillères was the second longest climb of our trip, and without shops nearby on the other side, we again stopped to stock up for the climb and snacks. We could not help but slightly judge a cyclist on full carbon framed bike telling us about his feat crossing the Pyrenees on a vehicle supported tour. He did, however, impart good news in that we were apparently attempting the next Col from the ‘easier’ side. The next 2.5hours of continuous climbing passed like most other sustained climbs on this tour – for me hot, sweaty, occasionally swarmed by the flies and with an emergency snickers at the end! Meanwhile Seth, who has just one climbing speed irrespective of the gradient, hangs back with me during the lower slopes, making the occasional stop to pee or adjust his handy solar charger before quickly catching up. Then, a few km from the top breaks away beating two fit looking guys on unladen road bikes! 

- A sunny Col, shortly to be disturbed by curious or hungry ponies -

- The ponies seemed to purposely block the cars, while farting loudly the whole time. On both accounts I suspect due to people feeding them -

The decent down the other side had some extremely impressive switchbacks, tight knit and visible from above snaking down the mountain. On the way to camp we crossed several small Cols, at least one by an accidental wrong turn, before turning up a forest path to settle down for the nights bivy, on a forestry track corner layby. 

- Chef Seth at work raising the bar of our camping meals. Our bivy spot by the road -

My history of bivy camps is chequered with odd experiences and this was no exception. Having both fallen to sleep, under the clear moonless night to the sound of distant dogs barking in town below, I was woken by a roar and bright lights of a small tipper truck revving the steep hill up at high speed, straight towards our corner! Being the deeper sleeper, poor Seth only woke up at the last second – when the full beam lights and revving engine were at their peak and just a few meters away from him, only for the driver to take the turn, slowing down to shout ‘don’t worry!’ out the window, before continuing up the hill. God knows what he was doing at 12:30 driving a pickup truck up there, however while Seth went straight back to sleep I remained vigilant for this potential serial killer to return from his body disposal trip, which he did around 1:30, kindly dipping his beams before passing by us without stopping and the sound of the engine disappeared into the valley below. 

Day 5 - Tuesday 23rd June

Having survived the night we celebrated by cooking porridge with snickers and some sugar out of the sachets which come with coffee. Thanks to the bivy, it took less than 30mins from alarm to setting off at 7am, pick up our rubbish bag from the top of a signpost as we freewheeled down to the main road -  this placement being a precaution against a hungry wild boar, of which we’d seen several the previous evening.

A cool decent and then our final large climb up Col de Jau, a lovely clear cool morning to be out on the bike. While stiff legged and a little fatigued, we both felt relieved to otherwise be feeling good for the final day of the tour. Descending to the coast we followed a ravine tracing through old villages of white painted houses with a very Mediterranean feel and. A Boulanger stop stocked us up for the 60km mainly flat ride to the cost, split between busy main road and side roads through fruit orchards. 

We caught our first glimpse of the sea arriving into Argelès-sur-Mer, and shortly after found a spot to complete the tour by throwing ourselves into the refreshingly cool med water. While it’s questionable if we were saltier before or after the swim, it was a lovely end to the tour. 

- Swim > food > beer > ice cream. Relieved to finish and cool down in the Med - 

- The lifegaurds banned our bikes from the beach -

Picnic lunch, with beers, and 2 ice creams each braced us for the 3hr train ride back to Toulouse. From our comfortable seats we could look out the train window to clearly see the outline of the mountains passing slowly by.