M1 woke first, harnessed himself to the Dolan and set off up the valley to sample the road to the Col de Pourtalet at 1794m. Surprisingly, the climbing although relentless wasn’t too punishing and without recourse to the ‘granny ring’ reached 800m after about 5.75 miles before turning back to go and collect the breakfast bread in Laruns. It was a first taste of TdeF climbs and thoroughly whetted the appetite. Nevertheless, the aim for the day was to walk but to get to the start point we had to cycle almost the same distance back up the pass. M2 was slightly pessimistic on his heavy machine but he surprised himself by managing the climb well. Although the weather was threatening, it was warm. We locked the bikes together just off the road and started upwards through the dense deciduous, predominantly beech, forest of le Betit trail aiming for a tarn at about 1700m – a fair climb. The trail was well marked and the forest so green and moist it was almost sub-tropical. Lichens and fungi were everywhere as were giant slugs and one delightful lizard with striking yellow markings who posed politely for his photo to be taken. We chose to deviate from the main track after about an hour in favour of what the map showed as a path through steep woods to a cabin near an aqueduct pipe which should have allowed us to rejoin the main trail a little further on. This again was well marked but was extremely steep and treacherously wet on the many layers of beech leaves and rotted vegetation. We became very hot with all the effort and increasingly aware that we were on a wild goose chase as no cabin appeared. Discretion favoured a retreat which we duly did although descent was even more tricky and hard on M1’s left knee. Back at the trail, we befriended three young German lads from Aachen on a kayaking trip. Experiences were exchanged in halting French before realising that they spoke English as well as we did! We pressed on upwards having lost an hour but after another 45 minutes or so the thunder god roared just after we had entered the cloud. It was time for discretion again and we headed down but took our welcome bread, cheese and sausage lunch while marvelling at the water patterns over the boulders at the bridge.
The bikes were soon recovered and we set off at speed down the road as the weather started to close in. Safely ensconced in the van, the weather held off just long enough for us to dine ‘Chez Emu’ with sardines a la pimiento to start followed by confit de canard, marvellous cheesy creamed potatoes, peas and carrots. At peace with the world apart from the persistent rain which arrived overnight. The bikes were outside and suffering. Shame!
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