Pyrenees 2006

Saturday - The French Connection

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The Bruxelles Hotel was turning out to be a really good find, the waiter had earmarked us a large breakfast table so we could all sit together. One minor panic occurred when a French lady burnt her toast in the toaster. Smoke was rising in a small cloud from the machine which had a conveyor belt to transport the toast. seeing the smoke, she started to prod the machine's insides with a knife... (it was my turn to wave my arms around when I stopped her!) her husband didn't look the least bothered, and as for the toast, it had already dropped out the back...

Looking north up Soldeu's main street with Johns & Dave J's bikes parked outside the Bruxelles Hotel. Its a grey start to the day, and decidedly chilly at only 10C/50F :(

First job today was to find a few bike shops in Andorra la Valle lower down for a tax free bargain :)

Gee and Dave stop to take pictures on the way down from Soldeu.

09:55 After loosing half the gang in the mad traffic around Andorra la Valle, we finally regrouped at Motocard, just south of Andorra la Valle on the Cg1 road. We're 2,500ft lower here than Soldeu, and its a good bit warmer too, 21C/69F, perfect! Time for shopping!

I was looking for a new Aria Sz helmet, Gee was looking for gloves. Motocard's a big shop and we had a good look around, Prices varied, surprisingly a new Arai SZ/f at €355/£239 is no cheaper than home, but a Givi luggage like the Maxima E52 top box at €179/£120 is a huge saving on UK shop prices.

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Gee couldn't find any suitable gloves in Motocard so we headed back up in to Andorra le Valle where a few more shops had been spotted earlier.

10:30 This is one of them, AMR (Auto Motor Racing) another large bike and motorsport shop. Gee even found what he was looking for, a light weight pair of gloves at reasonable cost. There's no doubt you could ride a bike in to Andorra, get kitted out with full luggage and ride out again without too much trouble, and save yourself quite a bit of cash.

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Having finished browsing the bike shops, we rode south out of Andorra le Valle and its mad traffic toward the boarder, but not before a lunatic driver in a Mercedes tried to mow us all down. Arriving at the Spanish customs we were all treated like smugglers, "Have you bought anything in Andorra, motorbike jackets?" he said looking with great suspicion at John's near new Alpinestars jacket. "No, nothing but beer and food" I said, trying to be clever. He wasn't impressed, but let us through.

Back in Spain again, we continued five miles further south on what was now the N-145 before turning right at La Seu D'Urgell on to our old friend the N-260 and headed back toward Sort. I wouldn't normally route us over the same road twice, but this was the only practical way through to France, bit of a French Connection, if you see what I mean :)

Roads often look completely different when ridden the other way around, so as we came up Coll del Canto from the east side, I didn't recognise it until we rode in to the parking area. Oh... we're here again!

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12:23 John and Dave J waiting for the others after a 'mad moment' descending the west side of Coll del Canto.

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After stopping in Sort for a coffee on the main street we headed north on the C-13 for Esterri D'Aneu and Port de la Bonaigua, and this really is a terrific road, swoppy corners and great scenery, recommended! Arriving at Esterri D'Aneu we turned left on to the C-28 and headed for the French border and Col du Portillon just 5 miles further on.

This is Port de la Bonaigua, seeing the snow made it feel colder up here than it really was (19C/66F)

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14:27 Close to the top of Port de la Bonaigua there was still snow along the road side, I made up a wet snow ball and chucked it at the gang, it hit Gee's bike right on the cylinder head and promptly melted. Calling Gee over I said "Hey Gee, your bikes leaking water" seeing the water Gee had a minor panic till he realised it was melted snow, I'll not report what he said...

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Gee forged ahead to take this picture on our way down the Pass.

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16:01 Our last pass for today, the remarkably swoopy roads on the east side of Col de Peyresourde, great fun!

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16:25 From Col de Peyresourde we rode straight down in to the town of Arreau, I was immediately taken with the place, It looked a wonderful old fashioned French town.

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Remembering a hotel I'd spotted on the left as we rode in, I rode back to the Hotel  D'Angleterre leaving the others in the town square. No problem, they had rooms: "just remember to take your boots off in reception, ok!" :)

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A room for two was €64 plus two breakfasts €15 Total €79/£59 = £29.50 each

Rear view of the hotel, our room was on the second floor R/H/S with the blue shutters open. To the left of this picture is the secure parking thanks to an electric gate.

After getting cleaned up and changed we went down to the lounge for drinks and met up with a Dutch cyclist who was 'doing the Pyrenees', among other snippets of information he told us the weather was set to change, we would be ok tomorrow but beyond that...rain. Hmmm, that didn't sound too bad, we would be on the ferry home the day after tomorrow...

Ordering dinner at the D'Angleterre, always a tricky time! so my thanks to Gee for swapping main courses with me (Though I still feel guilty about it).

After dinner we went for a drink in a bar just down the road on the right. It was deserted but for us, the beer was fine and we stayed perhaps an hour, then it was back to the D'Angleterre for an early night.

Today's route in yellow, Soldeu to Arreau with 148 miles travelled over four passes.

Today's elevation graph, hover your mouse over the peaks to find there name and height.

Today's temperature graph, a very cold start in Soldeu and also cold on top of Coll del Canto & Port de la Bonaigua

Garmin trail and waypoints download for today

Sadly, tomorrow would be our last day in the Pyrenees as we ride back toward the Atlantic coast.

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