Monday morning and after shaking the cobwebs off, we had a family meeting. One of those. I was proposing that we skip Pamplona on Wednesday since the climb, which is actually unnamed, is so severe that it might just be our undoing. Our legs are tired and it is pouring rain. Nobody objected. Not once. So I did some route planning and we did the ride that was already scheduled for today, Saint-Jean-Pied-du-Pont.
It had rained all night and it continued to rain in the morning. We put on our rain gear and some warm clothing, though it wasn’t really cold. But it was wet. Since we bailed out on the Pamplona route, today’s big climb was our last real serious alpine ride. We had a nice, flat and wet ride for about an hour, then came the ominous turn to the right.
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| We bought some cheese and bread at this little market in a tiny village |
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| A rainy day in the Pyrenees |
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| Jon leading the way |
The road went straight up and looked like a wall. This also is an unnamed climb in the Basque Pyrenees. We rode on and on and on up a road that was continuously between 11 and 13%. We stopped maybe 3 times and were going so slow that a fast walker could have passed us. And the weather continued to get worse. Fog. Dense fog. And more rain. We could see our breath coming out in puffs.
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| We were climbing into the clouds that clung to the mountain sides |
We labored on. At one point the road flattened slightly; to 6%. We felt like we’d won the lottery! Wahoo! But then we started seeing apparitions in the fog. Horses! Dozens of them all over the road. Good thing we were going so freaking slow. They were actually very nice and when I pushed on their haunches they moved away. No big deal, just some crazy folks on a bike.
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| Padon moi, mesdames et messieurs! |
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| It was cold and had we not been climbing we would have been frozen because we were soaked to the skin |
After an eternity, we crested the top and figured out which of the two roads we needed to ride. In this instance I use the word “road” very loosely. The road was paved, kind of, but it was only about 1.5 m wide – about 5 feet. And it was very steep going down. Lorie’s computer said 18% -- I didn’t look at mine because I couldn’t take my hands off the brakes or eyes off the road. Eventually we came to an area where the road traversed a very steep slope. I hope this picture does justice. A 5 foot wide, very rough road with a precipitous drop on one side. It was definitely scary. But we were very careful!
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| The horizontal slash across the hill is our road down |
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| Down we go |
At one point we scared a flock (covey, herd?) of enormous vultures. I have to figure out what kind of vultures they are, but they were absolutely huge. Much bigger than the biggest bald eagle you’ve ever seen. We were within about 15 feet of them but couldn’t get any photos. Sorry. So very cool to see these guys.
We made it down to the valley floor and connected with Jon, who had already picked out a place to eat. We were frozen solid and I was shaking so hard I couldn’t even take off my helmet. But hot coffee and hot soup and lamb chops and fried potatoes and tiramisu came to the rescue and we were put to right in no time. Yum. All for 13 euro.
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| Lamb chops and frites |
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| Tiramisu |
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| Gateau chocolat |
We rode into our campground at about 1600, got our tents set up, had long hot showers, and had some bread and cheese that we’d bought earlier in the day at the random town that I showed above, at the Monday market. After that, sleep. No problem. The rain had stopped so it looked like a pretty good night.
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| Home for the night |
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| Vineyards on the steep hills above the campground |
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| A very local wine that is superb |
Wow. What amazing things have happened in the past few days. The beauty and pain of going over these mountains. And I’ll say it, some pride in accomplishing it (even though we are devilishly slow). Lorie is tough beyond description. Going down steep hills is hard on her but the only time she complains is when I’m going too fast. That’s reasonable and I listen.
I have one more catch-up blog and then I will be up to date. Before I sign off, here's a tip of the hat to good friends Tim and Mollie Gosselin who have just now finished an amazing pilgrimage in Portugal and Spain. Chapeau!
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