Bagneres du Luchon 13th July
Thursday 13th July: Weather 16°C to 24°C Blue skies all day
Bagneres du Luchon: 15k walk: 10am to 6.15 pm to Castillon de Larboust and Tour de France
Accommodation: Jardins de Ramel
On the road to Castillon
Highlight today was just being at the Tour de France in the Pyrenees. We waited 6 hours in Castillon de Larboust from 11am to 5pm to see the caravan arrive at 2.45pm, then the first rider Stephen Cummings at 4.35 followed in a few minutes by Christopher Froome and his Sky Team. We had one of the best close view points on a not so famous Col de Peyresourde.
6am start with a cup of tea and early morning phone calls and emails. Time to tidy up our small apartment and get a bag ready with a picnic lunch for a day at Le Tour. Beer, wine, cheese, tomato, butter and we’ll pick up a baguette on the way. And in case it rains, jackets and ponchos. We left just before 10am, and bought a fresh baguette at the Petit Casino on the way. Then it was just follow the crowd to the D618, the main road from Luchon to the Col de Peyresourde. It’s a cool but sunny 16°C.
Church at Castillon de Larboust
Liquid lunch
Waiting and snoozing
Part of the action
2.45pm the caravan arrives
Finding a better pozzie for photos
Cummins is first through at 4.35
Up front and personal
2 mins later is the Froome train
Froome with Fabio Aru on his tail
Lone stragglers
Another big group
Still they come quicker than I can cycle down hill
Going back to Luchon
These are real flip flops
Better than Veuve Cliquot
Pork Fillet and veggies
There’s a continuous stream of cyclists heading both up to and and down from the col, and many walkers carrying the obligatory baguette poking out from their back pack - like us. We’d already sussed out the Col de Peyresourde 4 days ago from the Loudenvielle side, and had studied the map so we were aiming to walk about 10 to 12k out of Luchon up towards the col and find a spot where the road is steepest and the riders slow down to a crawl. We had to walk a minimum of 5k to get to St Aventin where Le tour would come in from the previous col, Port de Bales. But what ever the distance, it would be doubled because afterwards we’d have to walk back.
The road is quite steep but pretty through the gorge, with forests either side. It’s an easy walk without a heavy back pack, and an hour later, we’re walking into St Aventin. The Col de Peyresourde is not as dramatic as Mont Ventoux or Alp d’Huez, so it doesn’t attract the yahoo crowds. That suits us fine, the riders are still the same and we're surprised there were so many good spots without having to walk 12k almost to the col. We walk through St Aventin to the next village of Castillon de Larboust, and find a shady spot beside the road with a steep embankment of grass where we can sit and lean back - necessary for a 6 hour sit and wait.
It’s still quite a cool in the shade, and we need to drag out our jackets and poncho to keep out the breeze, sometimes crossing to the other side of the road to warm up in the sun. At 12pm it’s time for a beer and nuts, then a snooze, then lunch of fresh baguette cheese butter and tomato with a cold rose. At 2.45pm the caravan rolls through throwing goodies every which way. It’s a bigger caravan that last year with 62 cars and vans distributing their advertising ware - between us we collected lollies, bags, hats, key rings, cakes, water bottles and packets of dishwashing detergent - none of which we really need but it’s fun to collect.
It’s another 2 hour wait - watching the crowd, walking around looking at the frescoes in the old church, sitting, snoozing and moving up the road a little so Ian get get some better photos of the riders in the sun. Then the helicopters arrive and we know the riders are close. Ian can check on his phone the progress of the leaders and estimates they are only 10 minutes away. Suddenly the first rider Stephen Cummings appears, surrounded by the gendarmerie and service cars. A few minutes later the Froome train from Sky appears.
It takes 20 minutes for stragglers and groups to pass through and at 5pm, it’s all over. Such a great day and very relaxing without the crowds of previous years. We join the stream of people, bikes and cars heading back to Luchon. It never ceases to amaze me how the French walk for miles without maps, no planning and the flimsiest of shoes. We followed one guy back whose sandals were tied up with orange tape.
By 6.15pm. we’re back in our apartment sipping champagne - a 4 euro bottle of Duc Royal Brut Rose - just as good or better than Veuve Cliquot. Dinner is pork medallions, onions, capsicums, mushrooms and tomatoes. What a great day. Just one problem. I check the internet to make sure of the train times for tomorrows journey to Foix, and find that French trains are on strike and in the South of France in particular, there’s only 1 in 5 trains running. We’re supposed to go to Foix tomorrow for the next stage of Le Tour and also to collect a bag which we’d posted in Pau with all our airline gear - and our train is cancelled - in fact ALL trains to Foix are cancelled. We’ll get as far as Toulouse, we think, and after that - taxi? hitch hike? We’ll figure that out when we get there.
Bed at 10.30pm still wondering how Bambi got on.
Foix 14th July
Friday 14th July: Weather 16°C to 26°C. Misty and cool in Luchon, fine and warm in Foix
Luchon to Foix: Almost 6hrs: Bus Luchon to Montrejeau, Train to Toulouse, Bus to Foix, 9.30am to 3.15pm
Accommodation: L’Arche des Chapelliers
Pow wow at Gare de Luchon
Highlight today was the 5 minutes it took to run from Toulouse Matabiau station to the Gare Routiere (Bus Station) with four young Colombians we had met in Luchon, to catch the only bus to Foix for Le Tour de France stage finish. Why this shemozzle ? Mostly because today is July 14th. Not only is it Bastille day when everything is closed or stopped, but there’s a train strike all over France and all trains to Foix were cancelled. And thirdly Le Tour was finishing in Foix today with many roads and services closed. And after all this, we arrived in Foix in time to see the finish of the Tour de France which was so exciting.
We knew last night of the train strike and that trains were mostly cancelled, particularly in the south of France where we are. So our plan was to catch the 9.38 bus from Luchon to Montréjeau, then the 11.23 train from Montréjeau to Toulouse, IF it’s running, then hitch hike, catch a taxi? Make another plan in Toulouse to get to Foix.
Coffee at Gare de Montrejeau
More pow wow at the bus station Gare Routiere Toulouse Matabiau
Success! at Gare de Foix
Lunch in the park Foix
Last of Tom’s chocolate spread
Waiting, waiting
Too fast
Froome stalked by Fabian Aru
70kph and gone in a flash
Camera doesn’t capture speed
Warren Barguill is Foix stage winner
Chateau de Foix
Mediaeval knights from chateau
With all this in mind, we were up early today to clean, pack, have our home-made breakfast of muesli yoghurt and fruit. It’s misty and a cool 16°C as we walk the 1k down to the Gare de Luchon. Other hikers and Tour de France followers are there waiting for the same bus, including 4 young Colombian students following Le Tour. After a bit of phone googling, everyone else becomes aware that the train service to Foix is cancelled. Soon the ticket office is open and the young attendant knows nothing until he turns on his computer and sees all the cancelled trains, exclaiming how stupid! Also his computer is down, probably because of the strike, and he can’t sell us a bus ticket. When our bus arrives, he explains to the bus driver that his computer is kaput and we all pile on for free.
It’s just over a one hour bus trip up the Ariege Valley through forests, and then the low lying hills north of the Pyrenees to Montréjeau. The ticket seller there doesn’t know much about the strike either and is baffled that he can't book us a train ticket all the way to Foix. When he realises what is going on, he prints out a sheet of the amended July 14th and 15th train times, that has a mix of a few trains, but mostly bus replacements. We then realise that our train will arrive in Toulouse at 12.30pm and the bus to Foix also leaves at exactly the same time, 12.30pm. Hurried negotiations with our 4 Columbian friends and we ask the attendant could he please contact the bus company to hold the train for 5 mins ( a big ask) but he does and tells us what to do. We’ll have to turn right when we exit Toulouse Matabiau station and run fast for about 200 metres to Le Gare Routiere.
There’s 40 minutes to spare until the train departs for Toulouse, so Ian and I find a place around the corner of the Gare de Montréjeau out of the impending rain, for a Jet boiled coffee. It’s still a cool 16°C with showers hanging around. At 11.23, all 6 of us get on the train in adjacent cabins so we can fly off the train as soon as it arrives to run for the bus. Ian has phone connection and I google the Toulouse Gare de Routiere and see a photo of it so we know what it looks like.
The train pulls in at exactly 12.30 to Toulouse Matabiau station and we’re off and running, taking a short cut exit, and we fly into the bus terminal to see the digital sign flashing Voie 8 Foix 12.40. We arrive just in time. One problem. We don’t have tickets. But luckily one of the 4 Columbians speaks French and sweet talks the driver into letting us on. He agrees on one condition - since we have not booked, IF he has to pick up extra passengers beyond the bus capacity, we have to get off. OK.
There’s 10 bus stops between Toulouse and Foix, and at every stop we’re counting the passengers on and off. Lucky it is Bastille day, so there’s no workers and no school children, and by the time we pull into Foix, there’s only 10 people still on the bus. We thank the driver and give him a tip, then look for the ticket office at Gare de Foix to check out a bus for tomorrow. We know there’s one at 8.52am and it would be nice to pre purchase a ticket but the gare is closed.
A few hundred metres down the road and we’re in Foix - we’ve been there before in 2007 so we have a vague idea of the layout of the town. It’s 3.15pm and we can hear the excitement as the caravan for Le Tour passes down the main street. No rush, we already have a suitcase full of Le Tour souvenirs. Zig zagging through the crowd to the Tourist Office to check on the trains and buses for tomorrow, we find they know less than us about the strike. So we decide we’ll just go down early enough in the morning to sort it out, smile at the driver and coerce our way on a bus.
We’re starving and there’s a park outside the Tourist Office within cooee of Le Tour. Lunch at 3.30pm. Cheese, tomato, bread and butter of course, with the last of Tom’s chocolate spread from a tube. Yum. Then it’s off to find our chambre d’hote, L’Arche de Chapelliers, where Sonia greets us and shows us to our room, with separate ensuite and lounge area- just wonderful - and our bag that we posted from Pau was sitting there waiting for us. A quick thank you and we give her a bundle of Aussie goodies - a Taylor’s Shiraz, mini koala, kangaroo keyring and bracelet that we had posted with our stuff to her, and we're off to find a pozzie for Le Tour which is expected to arrive at 5.15pm. It’s downhill 25k into Foix from the last high point of Le Mur de Peguere, and there's no chance of us walking to a “steep” slow spot. So we park ourselves 450 metres from the finish.
We only have an hour to wait and at 5.15 the Gendarmarie arrive on motorbikes with sirens blaring, soon followed by a group of 5 riders who whiz by at 70kph in less than 2 seconds. There’s no time to blink before they’re gone. A minute later Froome, stalked by Aru flashes through then other small groups zoom by. And in about 7 minutes it’s all over. After almost 6 hrs of travelling and running for buses and trains, it’s finished. But well worth the effort. Nothing quite compares with Le Tour de France.
After a stroll around the old town, and a stop at the boulangerie for a baguette for dinner, it’s time to go back and re organise our gear ready for tomorrow’s flight from Toulouse to Paris and home. But coincidentally, tomorrow, Le Tour starts at Blagnac, the airport for Toulouse, and when we realised this several months ago, we immediately made plans to see the beginning of this stage too - our 3rd stage in 3 days. IF we get on the 8.52 bus in the morning from Foix, we hope to catch a taxi from Toulouse Matabiau to the start of the race at Blagnac, about 6k away.
At 8pm, there’s still dancing and celebrations in the street below us as we sort gear, shower and wash. Ian trots off to the Carrefour Express for a beer, a bottle of wine and meat of any description, while I catch up on blogging. Dinner is a simple cheese, tomato, capsicum, sliced dry jambon, fresh baguette and butter, with a beer and a merlot.
It’s 10pm and the streets are still buzzing, though the dancing has stopped. It’s been a long day, and somehow I feel sleepier than if we’d walked 20k.
Yellow hats, polka dot shirts and me
Paris 15th July
Saturday 15th July: Weather 18°C to 28°C
Foix to Paris: Bus Foix to Toulous, 9am to 10.30am, Air France Toulouse to Paris, 7.25pm to 9pm.
Accommodation: mCitizen Paris Charles de Gaule Airport
Full bus Foix to Toulouse plus dog
Highlight was being at our 3rd stage of Le Tour de France in Blagnac after a hectic start to the day on a crowded bus from Foix to Toulouse, with even a dog on board. Then getting a taxi to Blagnac for the start of Le Tour to find the place buzzing with 30,000 visitors - mostly families who would have found it difficult to get to any of the high cols with kids.
An early start at L’Arche des Chapelliers and after a few phone calls, it’s breakfast at 7.30am. Sonia has provided a lovely spread of jams and breads, with muesli and yoghurt with hot tea. We leave at 8am to make sure we’re on the 8.52 bus to Toulouse. There’s already a dozen backpackers waiting at the station. Trying to buy a ticket at the ticket machine is useless - it continually rejects our visa card - as it had done in Paris previously. We’ll take a chance and offer the driver cash.
Jeppe, our Norwegian friend and Ian at Parc du Ramiers for TdeF
1pm start for Le Tour from Blagnac
30,00 people at the start Blagnac
Start Blagnac
Start Blagnac
Walking back from start
Lunch in the park Blagnac
Watching Le Tour big screen
Toulouse Airport - finished
The bus arrives and people load their gear in the underside baggage section. Ours won’t fit so we join the queue and hope to take it on the bus with us. The driver doesn’t accept cash and she (yes, lady driver) indicates we need to go and buy a ticket, but after some quick explaining in quasi French, she shoos us down the back of the bus and we grab a seat with backpacks parked on our laps. Someone gets on with a dog - the French are very accepting of dogs - they’re allowed in hotels, shops, buses and trains without question.
The bus has 4 stops on the way, and it only takes one and a half hours instead of the two coming in yesterday with 10 stops. But at each stop, the driver prevents people getting on as it’s already full. At one stop, three people get off and she allows three more on, assuming there’s 3 seats, but they can’t find any seat vacated by those leaving. There were people squished into the back seat and hiding in the well of the middle exit just to stay on the bus so there really were no spare seats. At 10.35am the bus arrives at Toulouse Matabiau, and I rush off to check for any buses, trains or taxis out to Blagnac, about 6k away where Le Tour is die to start at 1pm. We would normally walk, but there’s no time to waste or we’ll miss Le Tour, and we’ve now got an extra bag we picked up in Foix, and it’s too heavy to carry all that way. I find a taxi driver who’ll take us for 22 euro and run back to tell Ian, but by the time we get back to the taxi rank, he’s just leaving with another passenger.
On the way back we bump into Jeppe, a young Danish student whom we had met with the Colombian group and offer him our taxi ride out to Le Tour. He had arrived on the next bus out of Foix. The new taxi driver speaks a little bit of English and I explain again where we want to go. All three of us get in and we’re off. It’s only 15 minutes out to a point on the opposite side of the river to Blagnac where we want to cross over on a bridge. We know we’re in teh right place as there’s hundreds of cars and people already walking across the bridge to Parc de Ramiers. The taxi costs 22 euro, and in no time we’re out and following the stream of people heading up to the start about 1 k away.
The park is buzzing with Le Tour team buses, team cars with bikes on top and thousands of people trying to get a glimpse of the riders. Ian minds all our bags while Jeppe has a look around and I walk up to the village centre to buy a baguette and cream for a coffee (decadent, I know!). Blagnac ville is closed to traffic. The hotels are overflowing with people spilling on to the street and several shops have run out of water and bread. The local Spar supermarche has a small bottle of cream but no bread, so I join a queue at a boulangerie and manage to buy 2 baguettes.
Back to the park and Ian cooks teh coffee on the Jet boil and we all enjoy a coffee and cream with a hunk of fresh bread while sitting on the grass. There’s not much to see but it’s great being here to be part of the excitement and enjoy the atmosphere. At 12.45, we walk up to the start where people are already 10 deep. I mind the gear by the footpath, where I can see glimpses of riders lined up, and Ian and Jeppe worm their way in through a gap in the crowd which opens up when the police force everyone aside to allow official cars through to the start.
At 1pm, Le Tour starts. It’s not a speed start as they’ll crawl for about 8k through the village streets lined with people until the official start at 1.20pm. But Ian got a few nice photos. We part company with Jeppe, he’s off to find a hotel for a few nights, and we follow the crowd walking back to their cars. The local Carrefours is full of people. Ian goes in to buy a beer and wine for lunch and there’s 8 cashiers churning through least 60 people a minute. Le Tour is a bonanza for local businesses.
15 minutes up the road towards the airport, there’s a large park where they’ve clearly had Tour de France festivities with a big screen and chairs set up for the grand start. But most people had left soon after the start. We have a leisurely lunch of cold wine and beer with a fresh baguette and some of our cheese and tomato, then mosey over to the big screen where we sit and watch the progress of the cyclists for the next 2 hours.
At 5pm, it’s only a 15 minute stroll to the Toulouse-Blagnac Aeroport where we re-organise our bags and check in with just one large hold bag. The flight leaves at 7.25pm and it’s completely full. At 9pm we arrive at Charles de Gaule, pick up our one large bag from teh carousel, catch the shuttle train from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3, then walk 200 metres to our hotel CitizenM on Roissy Pole Ave. The hotel is very trendy and modern and our room is small but very well equipped. Eveything is electronically controlled through an apple ipad - lights, tv, fan blind.
We drink the last of teh red wine saved from last night with the last of our cheese and tomato, then watch a movie - Made in Dagenham - before turning the lights out at 1am in the morning.
Brisbane 16th and 17th July
Highlight of trip Breche de Roland
Breche de Roland with Bill and Joan
We awake at 7am after a late night watching Made in Dagenham and have an apple and left over muesli for breakfast, then out the door by 8.30am to catch the shuttle train back to Terminal 2C. After checking in and wending our way through security etc, we’re lucky to get 2 x Business Class seats in an A380 from Paris to Abu Dhabi.
The flight departs late at 12pm. Very comfy and we get to sip wine while watching Wimbledon live on screen to see Federer defeat Cilic. Definitely a highlight rather than being on the A380.
After arriving in Abu Dhabi, and expecting to have to wait several days there for a Business Class to Melbourne, then fly back to Brisbane, we’re offered 2 x Economy seats direct to Brisbane on a flight leaving in 1hr. We’re on. Not a particularly comfy trip. The Boeing 777 is completely full, but 13 hrs later we arrive in Brisbane Monday night July 17th at 6pm. Thanks Bonnie for leaving the car at the airport, and we’re home after a fantastic trip at 9pm, minus our checked in bag which we’re sure will follw us in a few days.
Highlight of the trip was definitely climbing to 2800 metres to the Breche de Roland with Bill and Joan, two Australians we had met a few days before.