Saturday, September 12th
Route Map and Elevation Profile
For the second time, the day started with rain and ended with sunshine. It was also a day with another long climb, this time the Col de Portillon on the border with Spain. At least it wasn't cold, and it wasn't heavy rain when we set off.
The 10km climb starts just on the edge of Luchon, and also begins rising relatively gradually.
As we all found our own rhythm, the fog made for some eerie sites rounding the many switchbacks - here, another rider ahead. Earlier, about 50 cars participating in a classic sports car rally, coming in the opposite direction.
It was no longer raining, but the road was still wet - here's Robin preparing to take a break with me.
The air was also clearer, and dryer above the fog and low cloud.
One more photo (and rest) stop before the final short push to the top, and and to Spain!
We enter Spain via the Val D'Aran in the far north-west of Catalunya - no passport controls here any more.
Not as high, or as long, as the Port de Bales, but steep enough, especially first thing in the day.
We took the descent very carefully - the road was still wet, there are lots of sharp turns, and there was quite a bit of traffic going our way.
A kilometer from the bottom is the ski resort town of Bessost where we had a relatively early coffee stop, if you can call 10:30am early.
Not far out of Bessost, and following the Garonne (Garona) river again, we were due to turn right off the main road. However, it started to rain quite heavily, so we found shelter in a bus stop from where we watched a group of canoeists preparing to go down the river.
As we waited, the group got larger with several more vans arriving over the next half an hour. One lost his helmet into the river, which a staff member retrieved, complete with cigarette still in his mouth - we must surely be in Spain now...
Meanwhile, the rain had eased enough for some of our group to head off. But we stayed to watch the canoes depart.
When we first arrived, there was hardly enough water in the river, but there is a reservoir just up the road, and water was released to increase the flow significantly. It turns out, that's what they had been waiting for - the midday rush!
This group almost lost themselves in the trees on the bank.
We never did find out where they finished - Luchon itself perhaps?
Canoes gone, we prepared to get back on the road.
Most people decided to follow the main road for the next 10km, rather than the steeper, longer and more inferior quality road that Bike Adventures had planned. It was raining, after all.
The low clouds made for some great photography.
There was a strange mix of old churches and towns and Swiss style ski resort architecture.
And always views that wouldn't have changed for centuries.
The sun came out for our arrival into Salardu where we would spend the night.
The peoloton had a late lunch at about 2:30pm, and then visited the fantastic Romanesque church just near the hotel.
The frescoes in particular, are very nice.
We weren't especially hungry, so we went for a(nother) drink and some tapas - what started as an empty bar turned into a packed bar as the locals came to watch Barcelona play Atletic Madrid on the bar's TV.
We changed bars, found the football was also on there, had our tapas and got an early (not quite) sleep. Barca won the game 2 - 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment