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.