So after my disastrous 25 it was directly back to château Hitchings and load up for the 20 hour drive down to the mountains. Coming along for the trip was Brook from Hansfords, Henry Newbery (GWR) and Nathan Jackson (VC Meudon). After the briefest of naps 3am came and it was time for a quick coffee and off to pick up the other guys. With a fully laden Audi we headed to Dover to start an adventure….
At this point I would like to offer some advice. If you ever embark on such a journey through France DO NOT use the Route nationals! The tolls roads are money wellspent.
We finally arrived at the campsite just south of luz saint sauveur at 11pm feeling like I had been on a heavy night out. that aside I was still pumped, we were at the foot of the Col Du Tormalet, the Hutacam, Luz Ardiden and the Col du aubisque to name but a few. The next few days had EPIC written all over them!
Day ones: the first days ride was the lesser know and somewhat over looked cirque du Gavarnie.
(cirque-du-gavarnie)
Starting out from argeles gazost the 30km climb heads out gently along the luz valley up the village of Gavarnie then steepens severely as it heads up to the Col du Gavarnie. The profile and percentage was all well and good but the temperature was heading up to 35 degrees! This was a bit of a shock to the system coming from grim British weather. We made it to Gavarnie in the full heat of the day and promptly stocked up on water before tackling the Col its self.
The tarmac was getting sticky by this stage but we plugged on. As soon as we hit the first 10% section we started to split up and with a ‘see you later’ we all went up at our own pace. I have to say I was glad to ride up this one gently, it has truly amazing and awe inspiring views not to mention marmots! And speaking of marmots, no all of them are happy with life. On the decent one of the furry critters decided it would leap in my path before deciding it was a bad idea and scurrying off into the undergrowth. Code brown moment over we descended back to the campsite thinking about a nice cold drinks. Approaching a junction near the camp site there was a slight confusion at a junction and I went into the back of Henry at quite some speed. I went down hard landing on my left hip and shoulder. I wasn’t to badly hurt just the normal gravel rash and burses that come with the rapid dismount. We headed back to the accommodation in silence and assessed the damage of the first days ride….
The tarmac was getting sticky by this stage but we plugged on. As soon as we hit the first 10% section we started to split up and with a ‘see you later’ we all went up at our own pace. I have to say I was glad to ride up this one gently, it has truly amazing and awe inspiring views not to mention marmots! And speaking of marmots, no all of them are happy with life. On the decent one of the furry critters decided it would leap in my path before deciding it was a bad idea and scurrying off into the undergrowth. Code brown moment over we descended back to the campsite thinking about a nice cold drinks. Approaching a junction near the camp site there was a slight confusion at a junction and I went into the back of Henry at quite some speed. I went down hard landing on my left hip and shoulder. I wasn’t to badly hurt just the normal gravel rash and burses that come with the rapid dismount. We headed back to the accommodation in silence and assessed the damage of the first days ride….
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