February 26th, 2010
Spring has arrived in the Pyrenées. After 4 months of snow and ice the sun is getting the upper hand, flowers are growing in the garden and I went cycling in shorts for the first time this year, it was 15°c but felt much warmer in the warm sunshine. I went over the Col du Croix Blanche and out towards Tarbes before turning round Lourdes airport and back up the Lavedan valley. The Col du Croix Blanche is an easy 13km climb but kicks up a bit at the end.
Col de Croix Blanche
Col de Croix Blanche Summit
Col de Croix Blanche view of Tarbes
Goats on Cote de Loucroup
Cycling in shorts
Spring flowers in our garden.
February 23rd, 2010
Skiing Hautacam
Skiing at Hautacam today, photo taken at Col de Tramassel.
February 19th, 2010
Winter in Gavarnie
Winter is maintaining its grip on the Pyrenees, Meteo France say it is the coldest February for 47 years. This photo of the Cirque du Gavarnie shows the highest waterfall in Europe, which falls for 422m, it has been frozen solid for the last 3 months and will be for at least another. This cliff face is over 1km high and reaches an altitude of 3100m, The border between France and Spain runs along the ridge. From next week good weather is on the way with forcasts of 15°c and sunshine spring is almost here.
February 9th, 2010
It is still 5 months before this years Tour de France, the excitement is slowly building to what will be an amazing week here in the Lavedan Valley with the Etape on Sunday 18th and then Stage 16 on Tuesday 20th and stage 17 on Thursday 22nd all passing through Saint Savin just 1km from our house, La Lanterne Rouge. I’m like a small child waiting for Christmas.
On to future years and what might be. The Tour de France will start on the island of Noirmoutier in the Vandée on July 2nd 2011 this is certain, the rumour mill is already at work and if it is true Le Tour will go north to Normandy and Bretagne before an air transfer south, perhaps to Biarritz. This will be the first rest day on Monday 11th July. There will be a stage through the Basque country to Pamplona and then across the Pyrenees to Pau, probably over the Pierre Saint Martin, the same route used by the Duke of Wellington when he invaded France in 1814(more about that in a future post). There will then be a stage from Pau through the Lavedan valley to Saint Lary where there will be a mountain top finish. I have also heard mention of a finish at Cauterets, perhaps at Cambasque. This will probably be on Wednesday 13th or Thursday 14th of July, the tour will then head east and get to the Alps on the 20th July with stages featuring the Galibier and L’Alpe d’Huez.
In 2012 the tour will start in the Belgian city of Liege and in 2013 it will start in Corsica. It will be the first time that the tour has visited the Mediterranean island. I will keep you up to date with all the info for the Pyrenees, keep watching this space.
February 9th, 2010
The weather has turned cold again and looks set to remain that way for another week so there won’t be much cycling this week; I’ll console myself with the Tour de Qatar on Eurosport and the Tour de Mediterranean next week. After that spring should be along anytime, already I can see signs of it in the garden with shrubs and rose bushes starting to bud and daffodils pushing up their green leaf.
I went on a ride to the Col du Lingous yesterday and at the summit decided to go up the road to Lanso, it is a dead-end of 1.3 km. Within 300m I regretted it as the gradient was a steady 16% and near the summit rose to 24% briefly before dropping down in the last 200m to the small hamlet of Lanso, just a few farm houses and a small chapel and graveyard. The views were very nice but I don’t think I will be in a hurry to experience it again, too much for February.
February 3rd, 2010
Moon rise over Hautacam.
Just about midnight the full moon came up from behind Hautacam, as seen from one of our bedrooms.
Moon over Hautacam-St-Savin
Moon over Hautacam
