| Day # | 44 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 40 miles | km | 4377 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 1998 miles | km | 83587 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Relive the Route |
| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
Before I describe today's exceptional cycling experience, I need to cover something that happened at the end of yesterday and which has had something of an impact on my plan.
Change of Plan
During yesterday's rest day, I spent ages looking for accommodation in Spain, at an appropriate distance from Col du Pourtalet. I also tried to plan ahead and looked at possible destinations for each of the coming days and at campsites around those places.
Whilst I was in planning mode, I thought I'd take a look at the situation with ferries back to England. Now, it has been said (by one person only and it wasn't me!) that the planning for this trip has been meticulous. Well..... some of it has been. But that important bit towards the end, where I actually return to England, not so much! When asked how I'd get home, my answer had always been "I'll take a ferry from Santander to Portsmouth and cycle home from there". Great idea but yesterday, I had a little surprise. You can't take bikes on the Santander to Portsmouth route! There's a similar ferry from Bilbao to Portsmouth and Bilbao isn't that far from Santander so I looked at that option. You can take bikes on this ferry! But they're sold out right into October. Oh dear.
This left me with only one option. A ferry from Santander to Plymouth. I know Plymouth and Portsmouth sound similar, but they really aren't. Plymouth is 250 miles from my home. Oh dear.
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| Route home from Portsmouth |
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| Route home from Plymouth! |
I bought a ticket to Plymouth. It seemed I had no choice. And so my final 4 or 5 days of this trip will be spent cycling east across southern England. I'm not complaining, it just wasn't meant to be this way. It's all part of the adventure and all that :-)
Today
I'm now in Spain! Woohoo! I crossed another border! And what an amazing day it has been. I cycled up the 18 mile long Col du Pourtalet, which was quite possibly the most enjoyable cycling I've ever done. The scenery, especially close to the top was just stunning. My legs worked well. The Mule was well behaved. And I took loads and loads of photos. Oh and I saw what I believe was a colony of Griffon Vultures. Enormous birds that look amazing in flight.
The day started before sunrise for me because I wanted to avoid both heat and traffic. I believe Col du Pourtalet is a popular route amongst drivers. So the first hour was spent in an atmospheric twilight, cycling up a fairly narrow gorge with a river to the right.
Col du Pourtalet is another Tour de France (TDF) climb and there are signs indicating altitude and the gradient to be expected next, all the way up.
In the lower parts of the climb, I passed through one or two villages. There's a reservoir, complete with a dam and several hydroelectric power stations too.
As you will have spotted from the signs, the gradient varies from a very gentle 3% to a steeper 9% (although I read that the steepest 100m has a gradient of 10%). Overall, I'd say Col du Pourtalet is not particularly hard, provided you've done your endurance training because it is a long climb, no question.
I saw quite a few cows by and sometimes in the road! It was almost like being in India again!
As the climb progressed, the scenery got better and the sun started to peep over the top of the mountains.
I saw quite a few sheep and each flock seemed to have a dog with it, usually having a nap in the shade! There was no herding going on so presumably the dogs are there to protect the sheep? Who knows. Looked a cushy job to be honest!
As I got higher, I started to notice enormous birds riding the thermal currents above me. Hundreds of metres above me but still looking very large. I wondered at first if they were eagles but was doubtful as they seemed to be flying in groups. I went round a bend and had a much closer view of one of these amazing birds as it flew around the next bend out of sight. It really was enormous. I started to harbour hopes I might grab a photo.
I cycled around the next bend and was amazed to see dozens of these birds all flocked together on the mountainside. My photos are poor quality and I never managed to get one of them in flight, but here they are.
Eventually, I tore myself away from bird watching and carried on, cycling all the way to the top. The last kilometre was stunning and a couple of walkers took my photo for me. At the top there is a small number of buildings including a restaurant and supermarket. I didn't stop and instead "topped out", passed the sign indicating I was leaving France and was delighted to see the sign welcoming me to Spain shortly afterwards. What a buzz! It felt great to have completed Col du Pourtalet and then to cross into another country. Brilliant.
The descent into Spain was fun! I can't say the scenery compared well with the French side but that's perhaps as well. You don't want to be distracted on a fast mountain descent.
My campsite is in a town called Gavin. Yes, Gavin. When I arrived, there was a queue of 10 others wanting to camp or park their motor homes in front of me. I was not optimistic I'd get a space. The woman managing the line told me she thought I'd make it in though, so I waited 45 minutes whilst they worked their way through everyone and eventually it was my turn. And.... I got a space! Which I was relieved about. I really didn't fancy cycling on in the hope of finding somewhere else.
And it's a nice campsite too.
Which brings us to tomorrow. I have no idea at all where I'm staying tomorrow! But tomorrow is another day. And as for today, today was exceptional! Here's the profile:
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