Pyrenees 2006

Sunday - Looking for fuel!

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Today is our last day in the Pyrenees but I'd lined up some terrific Colls for today as we ride back toward the Atlantic coast!

Sunday breakfast at the hotel D'Angleterre, but no sausages, eggs and fried bread I'm afraid, just the usual French bread, jam, yogurt and coffee :-)

08:50 While packing, John said he would need fuel soon, so as we rode out of Arreau we had a quick look, nothing was open. Ah well it is Sunday morning, next town maybe...

Leaving Arreau we rode straight on to Col d'Aspin and fabulous scenery. This is Gee looking back the way we'd just ridden.

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09:30 The top of Col d'Aspin and a fine view, spoilt just a little by a heard of cows who had taken up residence on the road

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I don't suppose you know anything about the mess around here do you?

10:12 Eighteen miles further on and we were on the top of Col du Tourmalet, that retaining wall on the right usually has a metal sculpture of a cyclist on the top, but it's gone missing (you can just see the metal stubs sticking up from the top).

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This is our road down on the east side of Col du Tourmalet. Did I mention the temperature? well right at the top it was a refreshing 12C/53F

After dropping down from Col du Tourmalet we rode through Luz-Saint-Sauveur still looking for fuel, but there was nothing... bone dry. We reduced speed and carried on. As we rode through Gorge de Luz (map) we rode slowly passed a speed trap, I expect the Gendarme thought we'd been tipped off (I wish). Next town was Soulom, still no fuel, but on the road out was another speed trap. Gee pulled up and startled the Police with a burst of English. Eventually, they understood what was needed and indicated fuel was available in the next town, great! Just as we rode away, I saw the front of an R1100RT nose out from behind a wall, odd colour though. I thought 'I'll tip him off about the speed trap' and gave him the universal slow down sign. Oh my god, I could have died, as the bike hove in to view there was two of them, and they were police bikes. I changed the 'slow down' signal to a limp wave and sickly grin, but they weren't fooled and set off after us :-( I was sure they'd stop us, but seeing the UK plates and the speed we were going probably couldn't be bothered, what a relief!!!

10:35 Luckily we did find a filling station open in Argeles-Gazost (map) and all five bikes were filled to the brim, with that out of the way it was time to find a cafe.

10:55 And it wasn't long before we found one in Saint-Savin, the Cafe de la Poste.

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While we were sat under the veranda enjoying a coffee, Gee showed us his new gloves. The seams were coming apart on both hands and parts of his fingers were poking out. Looks like he bought a pair of disposable gloves by mistake...

From Saint-Savin we continued on the D13 & D918 heading for Col de Soulor.

13:00 Col de Soulor, surprisingly with an open cafe and the first English bikers we'd met on the whole trip! I'll talk to anyone, so went over for a cultural exchange, well it seems we'd been luckier than one of their group, who was now residing in hospital after falling off a few days earlier :-(

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Leaving Col de Soulor, the road west is partly cut in to the mountain side, and that wall is only around 18" high.

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Col d'Aubisque with the hotel Les Cretes Blanches in the background.

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13:39 Checking with the others we decided to head straight for San Sebastian on the west coast, around 136 miles away. From there I knew of a coastal route for tomorrow that would take us part of the way back to Santander and the ferry home.

We first hit a problem as we descended in to Gourette (map) a ski resort, The GPS wanted to route us via a back road instead of the D918, Dave and I rode around in circles frustrating the others until we finally got on the rights road. Then more trouble struck just a few miles further down the road, roadworks. We slowed down of course, but the bit of road we were expected to ride on had no tarmac, just deep gravel! I ploughed through it with gritted teeth while the back end twitched (and I don't mean the bike) I fully expected to come off, but the big GS just ploughed straight through. Clearing the gravel, I checked in my mirrors and was amazed to see four motorcycles still vertical and following me!

17:45 We arrived in San Sebastian and spent a fruitless half hour in the 35C/95F heat looking for a hotel and just got hot 'n bothered. A couple of hotels on the sea front looked promising, but were booked up, so we set off again hopeful of finding a hotel on the outskirts of town. And that was a wise thing to do as it turned out, Just over a mile up the road we found the Hotel Leku Eder overlooking the bay.

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What a smart place, nice rooms with balconies overlooking the sea, sadly no bar or restaurant, but there was always town! 

A room for two including breakfast was €65 (£22 each)

Lovely view from our balcony, including a light house!

So after cleaning up it was time to go into town (which turned out to be a two mile walk) anyway, as we walked in to San Sebastian the wind started to get up, it was really strong, blowing tables and chairs about. But no matter, we soon found a bar for a few beers and a pizza place for a meal which was just fine. We ended up in an Irish bar at the end of the evening, where no one but us could speak English, very bizarre, but at least we got a taxi back!

Today's route in yellow Arreau to Pau with 216 miles travelled over three passes

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

Sunday's highs and lows, it certainly got warm during the afternoon.

Garmin trail and waypoints download for today

Tomorrow would be a simple ride of around 120 miles back to Santander for the ferry, what can possibly go wrong now...

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