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Raid Pyrenees 2010

French Word of the Day

Photos

Raid Pyrenees Day 2 2009
Col du Tourmalet.
la Corniche du Cirque de Litor
Col du Soulor
Col dAubisque

Col du Soulor

Today was 16°c with warm sunshine so I took the chance to ride my first big col of the year. The Col du Soulor is a 21km climb from Saint Savin with the last 7km the most difficult, all 7 and 8% to the summit with a max of 20%. It is a good road surface most of the way, but I think the last kilometer will need resurfacing before Le Tour gets here.

Check out the route on Ride With GPS:

Col-du-Soulor-2km

Col du Soulor, 2km from the summit.

Two kilometers from the summit.

Col-du-Soulor-Summit

Col du Soulor, Summit.

At the summit.

Col-du-Soulor-Summit

Col du Soulor, road to Col d'Aubisque.

Road to Col d’Aubisque will be closed until June.

Col du Soulor, Cirque du Litor, road to Col d'Aubisque.

Col du Soulor, Cirque du Litor, road to Col d'Aubisque.

At the summit of the Col du Soulor the road to Col d’Aubisque is closed from November to June. It is called  Cirque du Litor, Litor is the Gascon word for avalanche, a warning to all cyclists in the spring, many of whom ignore the barrier, if it is closed it is for a reason which I think this photo and it’s name make clear.

Pro bear graffiti

Pro bear graffiti

There is a lot of graffiti on Col du Soulor from the pro bear and anti bear (sheep farmers) lobbies. It is a real hot issue here in the Pyrenees. It is estimated that the population of brown bears is 20 to 30 individuals. There has been some introductions by the government of bears from slovenia, much to the annoyance of the sheep farmers, who would like to see all the bears dead, something they almost achieved in the early 1990’s when the population was down to only 4 or 5. A viable population is at least 50 bears so there may be more introductions in the next few years. This graffiti is pro bear and it sums up how I felt when I reached the summit. In July with the Etape du Tour and 2 stages of Le Tour passing this way, we can expect a frenzy of road painting by both sides.

Profile, St Savin - Col du Soulor.

Profile, St Savin - Col du Soulor.

Union Cycliste du Lavedan events 2010.

Union Cycliste du Lavedan, our local cycling club are running the following events in 2010.

22th & 23rd May: Tour de 3 Vallées.
Open to cat 2,3 and juniors. Teams of five.

The following events are cyclosportives mass start time trials and are open to all UCI licence holders, non licence holders must have a doctors cert.

10th July: Montée de Luz Ardiden. 15km
11th July: Montée du Cambasque.15km
14th July: Montée du Hautacam . 16km
31th July: Montée de Couraduque. 15km

Gave de Pau

The Gave de Pau river starts from Europe’s highest waterfall at Gavernie and flows down the Lavedan valley past Saint Savin to Lourdes before turning west through Pau and on to the Atlantic at Bayonne. It is a very popular trout fishery and in recent years has seen the return of Salmon after an absence of several decades. In 2009 salmon were reported as far up river as Argeles-Gazost.

The fishing season opens on Saturday March 13th 2010.

Trout in the Gave de Pau.

Trout in the Gave de Pau.

You can see from this photo I took this morning, that the river is rich with fish.

Gave de Pau near Saint Savin & Argeles Gazost.

Gave de Pau near Saint Savin & Argeles Gazost.

Here is a link to the fish available in the Gave de Pau in the Lavedan valley and further up the mountains.

If you go down river into slower water you can fish for giant carp and catfish like this monster.

European Catfish.

European Catfish.

http://www.mr-fishing-france.com/en/Guided-fishing-Carp-Catfish-in-france.html

Winter Wonderland.

Lots of snow this weekend and very cold temperatures again so no cycling for at least a week. We are getting it easy, the rest of Europe sounds much worse, particularly Ireland and UK where normal life appears to have stopped as a result of snow and ice.

Lavedan Valley & Hautacam in the snow.

Lavedan Valley & Hautacam in the snow.

Hautacam &  Notre Dame de Pietat.

Hautacam & Notre Dame de Pietat.

Icicles

Icicles

View the full photo gallery of winter in Saint Savin, January 2010.