PYRENEES (AUGUST 8-16)

For Alena

August 8 & 9 - We left Carcassonne and headed straight into some difficult cycling, largely on account of wind. It took a solid few hours of slogging to get us to Montreal, also on a hilltop. Sadly this Montreal was not quite as picturesque - the sign in was the only thing of note.

After a quick rest we continued against the wind, downhill at least, and on our way. The wind eventually died down and we rode and we ended up riding 85 kms to Foix, a city alongside the Pyrenees. We had intended to make it to Oloron Ste Marie, but it was getting late and still 40 kms away.

We arrived in the town of Foix just before the skies opened up and heavy rain came down, and also in time to secure one of the last hotel rooms. Apparently summer-in-the-Pyrenees is a popular place to be and August features many regional and local festivals that jam up available accommodations. The festival in Foix was currently underway with an African theme complete with a larger marketplace and a great afro-jazz band from Guinea, Le Nimba Orchestra.

After a lovely evening we awoke to pouring rain and densely clouded skies - pretty daunting to leave for a day of cycling in such conditions so we made the decision, admittedly too quickly, to abandon our hopes of continuing our biking and instead took a train to enjoy the thermal baths at Ax-les-Thermes. Wouldn't you know it, the rains stopped and the sun came out as we boarded the train. Never mind. Our time in Ax-les-Thermes was very relaxing; the warm spring-fed baths (with a variety of different pools and water features) were more elaborate than those in Yverdon-les Bains, Switzerland (more variety of whirlpools, pool temperatures, etc) and we came out feeling like jello. And with Ax-les-Thermes situated further into the foothills of the Pyrenees, it was a great opportunity to take a cable car up to some 2000m and take in the view from the base of a ski hill (yup, from 2000m up people *then* take chair lifts further up the mountains to get to the slopes - yikes).

And what else would one expect to find 2000m up in the Pyrenees but Country 31 - a country line-dancing group decked out in cowboy and cowgirl garb and click-clackin' away to some 'great' country hits. Seriously. We took photos. It was strange. And sadly they weren't all that good; their steps were hesitant and their energy nil. Strange.

During our second evening in Foix, Alice rediscovered the glory of crepes. After previously suggesting that this foodstuff is overrated she had a change of heart: it took a savoury mushroom with cream sauce crepe for dinner and a nutella-saturated crepe for dessert to seal the deal. Yum.

August 10 - This day was the start of the most challenging and rewarding cycling stint yet. We are consistently managing longer days (our record is now 130kms) and steeper days (climbing some 1200m as well as a 13km/28minute downhill from Foix en route to Pau!!!) and we are completely energized by our physical accomplishments. The landscapes also seem to get more and more spectacular, although perhaps because they are our reward for plugging away for four or five kilometres at a time uphill (7-10% grade); the vistas as one cycles along the foothill passes, up and down hills, and along ridges are unbelievable. In this part of the Pyrenees it is mainly farm fields, meadows, and forests with very large mountains in the background.

Cycling from Foix we ran into some trouble at our intended destination of Montrejeau (at about 100 kms) where we ran into an area of fully-booked hotels. The kind woman at the Tourist Information office scrambled to find us some place to stay and was successful. Unfortunately, the hotel (in a casino) was 25km away - we had already put in 105km and it was 5:30pm. The casino hotel was less-than-adequate, though we were happy to have some place to stay. We would only have gone the 100 kms that we had planned and been happy about it but were forced to complete 130km instead and felt tired but really quite pleased with ourselves for having accomplished that distance, especially when we realised that we had also climbed more than a kilometre during that time.

August 11-13 - We made our way over 200 kms in the two days from Capvern (Casino Hotel area) to Pau and from Pau to St Jean Pied de Port. We are firmly entrenched in the Basque region, which has totally different culture, cuisine, and atmosphere. The signs are bilingual (French and Basque) and more people have guessed we are from Canada than anywhere else in the country. We wondered whether this was due to the separatist traditions that are familiar to both regions (Basque and Quebec). There is also more of a Spanish influence, with us being only about 30 kms from the border. Of course, those 30 kms (75 kms total to Pamplona) are all uphill, though the Pyreneese mountains separating the two countries.

We are really proud of ourselves in our improving cycling ability. In the past three days we biked over 300 kms, with climbs totalling 2850 meters. That is huge for us! And so we decided that a day of rest before trying to climb the Pyreneese would be advisable. st Jean Pied de Port is an interesting city. We are taking in some Basque culture and food (Sangria, Paella, cheese and cherry jam, and some lovely cider) as well as local sports. We went to the semi-finals of the France Championship for Jai Alai (a Basque term, didja know...?). Fun! The town is a starting point for the pilgrimage known at St James Way. For reasons unmbeknownst to us at this point, St James walked from here all the way to the edge of Spain, at the time thought to be the end of the world (some 900 kms away). Now cyclists, religious folks, and others do parts or all of the same route. Us too (well for a few kms anyways...)

We have had a number of odd experiences since coming to this mountainous region. There are times when we are cycling that we are sure, from a visual perspective, that we are going downhill. But our bike speed and cycling effort suggests that we are going uphill. We have a GPS that shows orientation and it confirms the uphill path. And when we look backwards it is clearly uphill. Very odd optical illusion that can sometimes be discouraging, because we think we are headed downwards but are so slow and laboured (because it is in fact uphill). There are clearly some neurons misfiring. It is especially odd as this is the only region in which this has happened to us.

One of the things that we have been really thankful for is the large number of people who randomly stop us and offer assitance or guidance or just to schmooze about cycling for a bit. For example, while we were at the Tourist office in Montrejeau, a man came in off the street and imposed himself into our conversation. He insisted that he was a cyclist and knew the routes way better than the tourist guide did. He directed us to the casino hotel using a low traffic and lower climb route that was lovely. There was also Carmen-Louis, a older gentleman who tracked us down in his car as we sat having a break to schmooze and share with us his riding tales. He could no longer ride due to knee replacements, and seemed to revel in our accomplihments with us. And, let us not forget Alain, in Saint Palais, who was also a cyclist for many years, who was taken with all the stickers on our bikes and wanted to make suggestions about where we should go next.

August 14 - The big climb across the Pyrenees from France (St. Jean Pied de Port) to Spain (all the way to Pamplona). Alice remarked yesterday that our day off seemed to be like waiting at Everest base camp for the final ascent - she was a bit nervous about this particular goal and was almost psyched out by a Swiss chap at 7am, just as we were about to depart, who said "you're going to do that route with your panniers and everything?!?". Seriously, Alice did not need (lack of) encouragement. Indeed there were a number of people in St. Jean Pied de Port who had built up this ride in our minds - so much so that we were beginning to wonder whether we had the skills and strength to be able to complete the journey to Pamplona. But we figured that if it was too tough then we could turn around and go back downhill. So off we went, early in the morning to avoid the searing heat in this part of Europe (it had reached the high 30s during our previous cycling days and we wanted nothing to do with that, particularly starting at 2pm onwards). Approximately 11km out of St. Jean Pied de Port we started our ascent, which ended up being 20km in length and some 7% grade. Seriously, this was totally do-able. Though we were slow, we kept on plugging away until we reached the summit where finally Alice got her morning coffee (that she had to forgo because of our early departure and lack of open cafes). We were certainly going slow as proven by the fact that we could watch sweat drip off of our forehead and onto the ground below our bicycles - that is very slow indeed. Alice spent the climb observing all sort of small creatures (bugs and such) crawling around and even passing her during their own ascent. All in all the ride proved somewhat anti-climatic given that the landscape was not as picturesque as anticipated (e.g. barely any lookout points along the way) and the climb itself seemed rather ordinary given what we had come through in the previous few days. Nevertheless, another accomplishment for us.

We spent the afternoon and evening melting under the Pamplona heat. It had reached 40c by 3pm when we rolled into town, grabbed a hotel room with air conditioning and snarfed down some sangria and tapas. We took in the Spanish tradition of siesta (given the heat) and reemerged from our hotel room for more sangria and tapas at around 7pm. We wandered the streets even more slowly than during our ascent of the Pyrenees. Highlights in the city were the narrow, brightly colored streetscape with beautiful wrought-iron balconies, as well as a brass band in one of the main squares. We finished off the evening with an outdoor movie: Mamma Mia dubbed in Spanish! Ole!

August 15 - We woke up early again (6am) anticipating yet another sweltering day in Spain. We wanted to reach our destination of San Sebastian (on the coast some 100km away) before mid-afternoon. The ride was full of big rolling hills and the tremendously stunning landscape we had hoped for during the previous day's ride. This particular section of the Pyrenees proved breathtaking with exposed cliff-faced peaks, forested roadsides, and a 6km downhill at 12% grade that was exhilierating! The middle of the ride beyond this steep descent was a gentle slope downwards for a solid 30kms where it felt like were flying on our bikes - glorious! And then we hit the outskirts of San Sebastian just as the heat of the day settled in, with frustratingly confusing roads (e.g. lack of signs) and no apparent way to make our way further without getting onto the treacherous motorway. We gave up. We boarded a train and took it into the centre of the city, which was overwhelmed with the last day of a week long festival and a paucity of hotel rooms. Again the tourist office managed to find us a luxurious four star hotel room only available at 10pm that evening, once the Real Madrid soccer team (seriously!) had vacated following their afternoon match against San Sebastian (the local club). Would you believe there were groupies waiting for the players hours before the squad was to arrive back from the match - and the security in the hotel was crazy. We had to pull out our reservations/identification several times before the security guards believed that we were meant to be there. Despite not being able to get into the room until late at night, we had a fabulous afternoon and evening hanging out by the pool, walking along the beach, and taking in a parade of San Sebastian football fans as they left the stadium, chanting and singing in support of their team (Real Madrid won 2:0 by the way).

San Sebastian is one of the most beautiful cities that either of us has ever seen. It reminded us a bit of Bordeaux, with it's lovely old buildings, walkways, plazas, restaurants etc. Except San Sebastian has the additional benefit of being on a magnificent bay on the Altantic Ocean, with a huge soft sand beach that rims the bay. There is a peninsula with the requisite religious statute, a small island and beautful homes on a hillside, all within clear view of the ocean buildings that also rim the bay. The beaches were packed with people of all shapes and sizes, and the water was warm and very swimmable (a new Atlantic, to us at least). It was the first time either of us could recall people swimming in the ocean and frolicking on the beach until 9pm at night, as if it was 1 in the afternoon.



We were so taken with the city that we decided it was the perfect way to celebrate our 2000th km ridden this trip! And the second 1000th km came almost twice as quickly as the first did - another indication of our fitness, confidence and enjoyment of the cycling part of the trip. Our decision was further reinforced when we go t to witness a glorious fireworks show over the beach, which was attended by thousands of onlookers. And even furhter confirmed when we finally checked in and saw how lovely our hotel room was. We have since decided that it held the perfectly designed bathroom and ideal duvets, not to mention the phenomenal buffet breakfast and dinner that we partook while there. On our day of rest, the weather was cloudy but warm, which was perfect for us to spend much of it on the beach, napping, wading in the ocean, reading and trying to spot the bare-breated women (Peter, at least...). A great day for sure.

The Pyrenees grading:

• weather (B+) – gorgeous but a bit too hot for cycling or walking or being outside. We decided that we had to be on the road cycling by 7ish so taht we could be done by 2, when the hottest part fo the day seem to emerge. This lead us to deicde not to hang around this part of the country for too long, and to seek more a temperature climate.
• landscape (A+) - Awesome awesome awesome
• cycling challenge - moderate to difficult
• physical and emotional response (A) - We can bike whatever is thrown at us (within reason)
• food (B) - the sangria fabulous, but the idea of Tapas seems better than the taste of mot of it. Great paella and a great buffet at the Hotel Barcelo in San Sebastian
• accommodations (A) - Although the accommodations in Capvern and St Jean Pied de Port let much to be desired, those in Pau (thanks Charles) and San Sebatian and Pamplona more than made up for it. Erratic accommodations can be put down to the fact that we have not reserrved in advance as we are never quite sure where we will end our day. It i a bit problematic in these high vacation times, but we have yet to have to sleep in the train station...
• other people – (B+) - More adn more people are toppingto talk wiht us, and it was intereting to see all the pilgrims hiking St Jmes way, but we have yet to connect with others doing the same travel the same way.
• entertainment – (A) - Outdoor Mam Mia in Spanish, Jai Alai Championships, outdoor concert in Pau, African festival in Foix - excellent community events - canada has a lot to learn!

Overall Grade: A (abeit too hot for the A+ it would otherwise deserve)