France 2011, Sep 12, Along the Pyrenees foothills

This tour had an interesting method of enabling us to climb the major Cols of the Midi-Pyrenees region. The first day was a long 83 mile ride from west to east along the northern foothills of the Pyrenees. The ride was long because it was quite lumpy (that is hilly) and we did 5,100 ft of climbing. The rest of the days were spent going up into the mountains, climbing the Cols and the back to the foothills for the night. These days took us gradually back to our starting city, Pau.
Along the foothills. When we looked to the right the mountains almost always loomed above us. The country side was very pretty and the weather great. Again, it appeared a little more primitive than the Alps in the east of France.

We rode through Lourdes, one of the greatest pilgrimage sites in France - in the world, for that matter. This is just one of the many churches in Lourdes. I believe in the 1850's a teenage girl saw a series of visions of the Virgin Mary on a rock face.

Our first coffee stop was in Lourdes. We were more interested in the replenishment of fluids than the churches and memorials.

Somewhere along the route the guides would set up a lunch stop. I thought it was quite lavish although it did have its drawbacks. The fastest riders got there perhaps as much as an hour before the last riders and the guides were reluctant to let everyone start before the last riders were close to the break location. I loved these breaks though, because they always had rotisserie chicken and it is not easy to come by in the resturants. I was tired of ham by now.

We're going up there tomorrow? I am already tired. Enough said.

One of several castles along the route today. Many have a Moorish look to them, all located on a substantial hill.

France 2011, Sep 11, Pau, Start of Pyrenees

On the 10th of September we traversed France, a distance of approximately 520 miles to the foot hills of the Pyrenees and the city of Pau. This tour of some of the Cols was made famous by the Tour de France. The vast majority of our trip over was by tollway. It cost us about $50 in tolls or about 9 cents a mile. The good news is that the roads are very good, well marked, with frequent turnpike-like gas and resturant stops.

At first glance the area of the Pyrenees looks somewhat poorer than that in eastern France, and thus, more primitive, as well.
The French Cycling Holidays van sitting next to the hotel entrance which is hidden from the main street. It ain't easy finding these places.

Guides assembling bikes. They were quite knowledgeble about the mechanics of different bikes. A lot more campy over here.

A view from a couple of hundred yards from our hotel. In the far distance you can see the Pyrenees. In the foreground are the foothills. The rivers run north into the foothills, then the valley, and finally turn northwest to exit into the Atlantic near Bordeaux.

In the late afternoon, I was riding around the city and saw this window half full of pastries. I made a further hole in the display and sat down to eat at a table facing the sidewalk and the display. Over the next 15-20 minutes at least 8-10 people walked by and not one failed to stop and at least look. Some went right in and bought something, but one young lady oscillated between going in and going on. Finally she entered and bought. The pastries sold themselves. Throughout all this activity I sat about 6 feet away munching away on my two wonderful chocolate wonders.

We are about ready for the warmup ride with Lawrence (in the blue). We had eleven on the tour. There was a Finnish professor of recycling, 3 young Canadian doctors, our group of three, and another American family consisting of a father and two young adults. Finally, we had a delightful Scottish accountant whose passion in life was the triathelon. He had done them all over Europe.