Monday 16th July: Paris to Bagneres-du-Luchon

Woke up ahead of the alarm again today. Up at 5:45 for a quick final check of the room and pack the bags. Thought I'd also start the week clean shaven, so got a quick shave in as well. iPhones & iPads charged, bags packed and it was time to check out of the Concorde Montparnasse. I head down to the reception, checked out quickly because I was the only one silly enough to check out that early, dropped my bags and headed for breakfast in the restaurant. Just a short breakfast as I had to high tail it down to the train station, just a short walk from the hotel. I arrived at the train station, took a sneak short cut I found yesterday (which didn't involve stairs) and was on the platform level before I knew it. A quick check of the board and within 2 minutes they announced my TGV train would be departing from Voie 1 (platform 1) - same as last time.

I quickly made my way to the platform and found Coach 10. Second class carriage with stuff all room for a bike bag. I had to be inventive and placed it in between two emergency seats at the end of the carriage. A woman came and sat in one seat and said she would keep an eye on the bike. I kept an eye on it from my seat anyway. It was not long and we were off to Toulouse via Bordeaux. There a few less than savoury looking guys at the end of the carriage where my bike was stowed, so I wasn't taking chances and kept an eye on it and them. As the ticket inspectors came through they tried to hide - which you really can't do on the train. One ducked into the toilets and the inspector waited outside for him. He finally got his man and they had to pay up or get off at the next station. They were getting off at the next station!! Just needed to keep an eye on them and my bike to make sure it was not going with them.

We sped on through the French countryside heading SSW toward Bordeaux. Field, upon field of crops, punctuated with towns or fields where giant Wind power generating turbines were erected. Some of the towns we passed looked straight out of the SBS coverage and medieval in age. Beautiful really. It would not be long (5 hours) before I had arrived in Toulouse and met up with the two other guys (Andrew & John) who I would be driving to Luchon. We had to wait for an hour for the Hertz office to open, but before they did we checked out the prospective cars. To be honest we were worried 3 bikes and our gear was never going to fit, but obviously Mick is a great judge of luggage space. While I waited for Hertz to reopen the boys set about repacking their bikes ready to squeeze into the car. We folded down 2 of the back seats got all 3 bikes in lying on their sides, luggage in the back and we were ready to go. My first foray into driving in a foreign country. John was our navigator and Andrew was our moral support from the back seat. Meanwhile our touring party from the Alps were hurtling towards the Pyrenees like a Frenchman trying to get in the break on Bastille Day. Apparently at times one of the cars was on two wheels too.

Back to us and I was familiarising myself with the car as we circumnavigated Toulouse to find our exit. No dramas thus far, as long as you don't count the one engine stall and a little bit of hedge trimming on the passenger side as I got used to driving on the left hand side of the car. The Toulouse City Council should thank me because they were obviously overgrown anyway. Eventually we found our off ramp and were away heading in the direction of St.Gaudens. John, Andrew and I were getting familiar with a little chit chat about this and that as we drove along. the motorways in France are sensational. Although it feels a little bizarre to be invited to drive 130kmh, when the best you get at home is 110kmh. By the way the Peugeot 5008, fully loaded, did it with horses to spare too. We mastered the toll boths too. Quite soon we turned off after St.Gaudens and had a 30 odd km drive to Luchon. The roads became a bit more tight and rural the further we went, while regularly peppered with small towns. Now we did miss one turn off, but salavaged quickly with only heading down the road about kilometre before turning around. Drama avoided. John blamed his navigation skills and Andrew & I agreed it was John's fault! No just kidding he did a great job navigating.

We finally pulled into the town of Luchon. All I can say is "WOW WEE"! Every road out of Luchon, except the valley floor where we just came in has a major climb on it. Its a beautiful little town too. We had to ask for directions. Well Andrew jumped out and went to the information centre which way to go really. We made our way back to where we were staying and found that the rest of the touring party had only arrived 15 mins prior to ourselves. A quick set of introductions for us 'new' guys, reconstruction of the bikes, watch the end of the day's stage and it was time to stretch the legs on the bike. Some of the group were just going to roll into town but I really felt like going a little further so popped on the lycra. When we arrived in town some went for beer, some just a look. Andrew, John & I decided to do the first section of the SuperBagneres climb.

It eased out of town nicely which meant I could sit on the front, but then it bit and bit hard. I suspect it was straight into a 9 or 10% for a couple of kilometres, before it flattened out to a respectable 4%. My legs hadn't woken up after only a few kilometres of riding and over a week off the bike. By the time we came out of the couple of kilometres I was off the back of the boys by about 75 - 80 metres. They had just rounded a corner and I thought right this is my chance to turn and head for home, tail between my legs. John & Andrew can climb. Andrew was still in the big ring! I rounded the corner and John & Andrew had bloody slowed for me. Bloody inconsiderate really because now I had to ride back up to them. I worked back on to their rear wheels and maintained a closer check with them than earlier. We caught up to and were joined by Frenchman on a mountain bike who tried to have a conversation with Andrew, but there was not too much comprehension there. We passed a group who had scooters, with large wheels. I was thinking if they could get up here we could too, but obviously they had some other form of transportation up and were just using the to roll down. After about 5 or 6 kms of climbing, I decided I had had enough for an easy shake out climb and decided to head back into town. After all dinner was in 30 minutes and the beer should have been cold by the time I got back. The descent while scary due to loose ashphalt in some areas, was absolutely flying in other areas. I managed to push above 80kmh on one section, before I had realised it. We regrouped in town then spun our way back to the gite. Just in time for a shower.

We had a magnificent dinner put on by our hosts. Soup, followed by Lasagne, followed by cheeses, followed by Creme Roulard (not sure on the spelling). Bloody beautiful. All of this was acoompanied with wine, beer, water and finishing up with an espresso. Nice finish to the day. After dinner just a little catching up with some of the other tourists and stories from week 1. Tomorrow is our first real day of climbing as we take on the Col de Mente and probably Col des Ares. Around a 90km round trip for the hearty.

 

Posted by Sanchez