Tuesday 7th part 2
Well what a day! To say Neil was watching the weather this last week was an understatement. From about Saturday he spent every spare moment looking at the sky and commenting on whether the clouds were moving and how thick they were (the fact it rained all weekend did not help). I only regret that I did not see his face when he opened the curtains on Tuesday morning to see the sun shining and sky blue. He certainly picked the perfect day. After a lightning quick breakfast we headed for the drop off point at the top of the Col d'Aspin. On arrival conditions were perfect with only a few cars in the car park. Then we heard the bells, cow bells that is. Most of these mountain roads travel through farmland and there doesn't seem to be any fences. On top of the Aspin the cows come down from the higher pasture and spend the day beside the road. It's a really odd thing. Today we arrived as the cows were waking up and moving down to their day spot, however they moved onto the road and car park and stopped. Neil was leaving and had no intention of waiting for cows, however the kids and I got stuck. I had crossed the road to take a photo of Neil under a sign only to turn around to hear Callum's squeals from the car as a cow had just looked in his window. On closer inspection the car was surrounded. I managed to get in but we weren't going anywhere as there were cows on all four sides with no room to move. I found it hilarious but the kids were not so sure. Starting the car did not help either so we waited for our window of opportunity and squeezed our way through the cow peloton. Once free we made our way down the hill and towards Col du Tourmalet which we could see clearly from the Aspin and it looked very grand, dominating the skyline.
Knowing Neil wouldn't be arriving at the final destination for a few hours we drove slowly and took in the scenery. I pulled over every so often to capture the moment with a photo. Passing the spot where we spent the day on the Tourmalet in 2004 was funny. I explained to Heather and Callum what Neil and I had done but they just didn't get it so onwards and upwards we went. There was a constant stream of cyclists from all walks of life. Some looked like they were just not going to make it to the top and others like they could do it again if they wanted. We made it to the ski station of La Mongie in time to have a little explore. From La Mongie you could take a gondola to the very top where a observatory is, and you would be literally on top of the Pyrenees. I had every intention of doing this however when researching I had found out the height you travel over a valley and I chickened out. It was a little disappointing but I just couldn't get the nerve to sit in a tin box swaying that high above the Pyrenees. Instead we climbed back in the car avoiding the donkeys in the car park (yes France is full of roaming animals in car parks) and completed the final 4km to the summit. It's quite an interesting place as below La Mongie it is forest, valleys and endless green scenery. Above La Mongie its barren (except for the odd ski lift), rocky with limited grass. We crawled our way to the top dodging the cyclists and cars coming in the other way on the skinny road, only to be met by every man, dog, cyclist, motorcyclist all crowded around the sign and monument at the top making sure their moment was captured. It was chaos. We found a parking spot and headed back down the hill on foot to watch Neil coming up. We turned the corner and there he was! He'd made amazing time, so we cheered on his last few pedals strokes and ran to congratulate him. It was an awesome effort and achievement. We then joined the masses for our mandatory photo and headed for refreshments and lunch. The last part of the journey was to drive down the other side of the Col du Tourmalet which was ridiculously steep and crazy skinny. Calling it a two way road was being very creative and not putting barriers on the side next to the sheer drop was frightening but we made it without driving off the side (thank goodness). The kids didn't get a lot out of the day but somehow I think they understood that it meant something to Mum and Dad as they were really good while they were stuck in the car looking at mountains. It was an amazing day being a cycling geek and seeing where the limit is tested on the best cyclists in the world.
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