We woke up to, guess what, rain….
Fortunately, it mostly stopped raining on the ascent to Col du Peyresourde. The roads were beautiful — I think they were re-surfaced due to a recent Tour de France stage. The ascent was decent — 17 km of 8 – 9% gradient most of the way. The valley from whence we rode:
It was cold and misty at top, I put my pants on and descended. Robin arrived as I was leaving. Here’re the group at the top. Me:
Robin:
Dave and Dick:
The descent was long and mostly dry. Very easy and fast, I flew. I also stopped a few times to take pictures. Here’s the usual small mountain town dominated by L’église:
A quick lunch at Luchon. It was a rather large town so we had small problems finding everyone. Terry was driving the sag van and was last to arrive. But we found each other in the end.
It was cool but we had lunch at a café outside. We had a four course meal of soup, a salad with tongue, lettuce, tomatoes, rib-eye with scalloped potatoes, and dessert. The meals in recent days had been changing; the portions were larger, the preparation a bit simpler, and the wine with the meals a bit younger and simpler, as well. This meal was no exception to the changes we were experiencing. While definitely not an expert in French cuisine, I would guess that we were definitely ‘in the country’ and experiencing good country cuisine. This was a great meal although a bit large and filling for most of the riders. I was still hungry from the previous day so I finished off Robin’s rib-eye and potatoes.
I start sagging duties in the afternoon. Of course, the rain started, again…. The ascent to Col du Portillon (on Spanish border) was misty and wet. Some sections were very steep — 13+%. Robin’s altimeter registered 17% for some long sections, as well. The map showed 9.5 km to the top of the mountain, which was also the Spanish border. Here’re Robin and Terry getting soaked:
The Spanish border was at top of the mountain. There was no duane, just a sign post. I guess neither country was really worried about invasions of any sort from either country. In fact, the post said nothing about the Spanish border, just the French border. Robin and Terry arrived first, they change clothes and start the descent into Spain:
Dick and Dave arrive just as Terry and Robin start down the mountain. They also change clothes and start the descent into Spain:
The descent was mostly dry but steep into the Spanish valley.
At the bottom, the road was very busy as it was Saturday afternoon and the towns were crowded with shoppers — mostly at the Tabac shops and gas stations. Those items are cheaper in Spain than in France.
The hotel in St. Béat was definitely ‘one star’. Cash only, no telephones in the rooms, communal toilettes and one shower — very spartan. We arrived in town in late afternoon and had some time to kill before dinner was served so we walked around town and tried to visit L’église du St. Béat, but the gate was closed. St. Béat is basically a bend in the river nestled between two mountains:
Here’s L’église du St. Béat during the day…
…and at night:
As we returned from our walk about town, we met a cycling group from the UK. They were stowing their bikes in the garage and removing packs from the bikes. We spoke to them at dinner and found they were doing the same route we were, but in the opposite direction of us. They were self-supported — as in carrying their own bags. We just happened to meet them in the same hotel at exactly the half-way point.
They mentioned they had done a number of these self-supported bike trips in various places of the globe, but primarily ride in western Europe. They’re a bit more adventurous than we, however, as they only book accommodations a day or two before arriving in each town. A bit risky for me, but good for them.
While the hotel was rather primitive, the dinner they served, however, was incredible. I think the restaurant included five from our group, the four from the UK, and one other couple. The presentation was simple, but the food was fabulous. Again, I’m guessing this was good French country cooking. The salad consisted of melon, lettuce, cheese, lots of tongue, walnuts, and mushrooms. Second course was a cheese omelet. Third course consisted of large steaks and fried potatoes and mushrooms. And then, of course, dessert. I definitely wasn’t hungry after that and was fully topped up.
We needed to walk off that large dinner so we headed off in search of some Scotch and beer and found a bar that was showing a football match between Madrid and Celta? Beckham and Renaldo were on the Madrid team. We could only watch the first half as the bar closed at 9:30.
End of day 5. Statistics:
- Start: Arreau
- End: St. Béat
- Distance: 71 km
- Climbs: Col de Peyresourde, Col du Portillon
- Total gain: 1554 m