29.08
Well we did it! We finally
extradited ourselves from the
evil clutches of Simorre and it’s temptations of
food and drink! Had a last coffee with
Richard and Ingrid and drove the 115k to the Pyrenees passing through Tarbes, Lourdes, and
Pierrefitte-Nestalas to the little ski town of Luz-St-Sauveur. Despite a slight hangover we didn’t stop at
Lourdes for a quick fix.
30.08
Got our walking shoes on today and hiked a three hour circular
route around the foothills of Luz-St-Sauveur in the Hautes-Pyrenees A delightful ski town with hillside villages
and ski stations on each side of the valley.
31.08
Frank and Bron |
01.09
A beautiful day so we decided to continue on and have our own assault on the mountains!
We crossed the Col du Tourmalet (2115m) passing the statue of the
'Geant du Tourmalet', who recognises the feats of ‘all giants’ who make it to the
top.
Fantastic views over the mountain range and the winding road we
had climbed but rather chilly, watched several groups of cyclists celebrate
their arrival at the top.
Had our first
encounter with a marmot on the downward side, like a large cuddly guinea pig. Down through the ski village of ‘La Mongie’
with it’s huge cable car taking passengers to the ‘Pic du Midi’, the highest
peak around at 2872m. It has an observatory and lookout platform. We passed Frank at this point on his training
ride heading over ‘Tourmalet’ (he’s mad), most people would be happy to do it
once!!!
The alpine scenery is like a scene out of ‘The Sound of Music’ for those old
enough to remember, with endless green fields, pine trees, pale cows, goats,
horses and marmots all with a magnificent backdrop of distant bare peaks.
Fantastic, we love it up here!
horses and marmots all with a magnificent backdrop of distant bare peaks.
Fantastic, we love it up here!
The next Col was ‘Col d’Aspin’(1489m) equally majestic with
fantastic views all around.
We stopped for a late lunch at the beautiful small ski village of ‘Arreau’, a river runs through it’s center and many small ponds have been created throughout the village planted with colourful flowers.
Onward through Borderes Louron and the third Col, the ‘Col de Peyresourde’(1569m) into our camp at Bagneres-de-Luchon, another 19th Century ski town.
Lefty performed well over all the mountain ranges and we are not
too leg tired!!
A quick orientation before
dinner and bed.
02.09
Had a bike ride to the local tourist office to gather information
about the sights and spied the ‘telecabine’ working and taking people and bikes
up the 1800m ascent to ‘Superbagneres’.
Thought we needed a workout first so biked the first 7k uphill towards
the mountain and then had a fun descent back to the telecabine for our trip to
the skifields.
Paid 9 euros each for return ticket and had an exciting trip up the
mountain arriving at the skifields and a hotel that was used in a ‘Bond Movie’
(trying to establish which one!)
Hiked for an hour or so upward passing several pale cows and their
calves for endless views towards Spain which is very close.
We then decided not to return by lift and took a bike trail 18k down the mountain side.
Probably a little rough for our poor bikes but they lasted the journey as we did!! Good fun!
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