Saturday 11 July - Col du Pourtalet & Cru Lamouroux

M1 also had another motive for returning to Laruns - Col du Pourtalet. A climb used occasionally in the Tour de France, he had cycled from the campsite at 500m to a point at 800m on the earlier visit but was keen to test himself to see if he could get higher. The climb was 30km to the summit at 1794m - how would he get on? Up early and riding by 06.45 in cool temperatures, he set off. The route is marked at each Km with distance to go and slope for the next km so it is possible to track progress on the ground and in altitude. Fortunately, traffic was light at that hour and there were no competing cyclists whizzing past. The cycling was steady work, head down and keep turning with slopes ranging from 1% to the steepest at 11%. Apart from a few stops to regroup, take on water and a few photos, 2hrs 20mins after setting off and without there being a final km mark, the summit arrived rather suddenly. Spain ahead, France behind and a photo of the bike actually there and it was time to head back down. If this was supposed to be the easier option - forget it! M1 was permanently on the brakes to limit descent speed with all sorts of strain on the hands. More than that, this was the first Saturday of the French holidays so the traffic from France to Spain and vice versa had increased dramatically - coaches, campervans, cars with frustrated drivers, cyclists, animals all vying for their bit of the road. In addition, there were some tricky winds, generation of heat had disappeared as there was very little pedalling and passing into and out of sunshine and shade meant it was very cold indeed. There was some very bad driving and it was with some relief that the campsite hove into view after another 1hr 15 mins - shaking with cold and muscular tension. The croissants, fresh bread and coffee M2 had arranged could not have been more welcome nor the warm shower afterwards. But - a tick in the 'Done' column for which there won't be another opportunity - a satisfying milestone even though it was less 'dancing up hills' than 'broom wagon' stuff.

We struck camp, said farewell to the lovely maiden and set off for Orthez where there was another battle in Wellington's advance into France. In truth, there wasn't that much to see other than to see the ground over which the armies had manouevred in this closing phase of the Peninsular War. We had a fondness for the 'France Passion' site at Cru Lamouroux in the Jurancon so we went back to see the vignerons, taste the wines again and enjoy a final evening looking down the Vallee d'Ossau to the magnificent Pyrenees whilst savouring a meal of smoked salmon and avocado followed by veal with rice. Paradise!