As an exception, this blog entry begins with a picture. This is the view Jean and Anne-Marie woke us up with early in the morning. That is how our Saturday (09/24/22) began. As the clouds that seemed so far away in the background got closer and heavy rain started, we decided to continue the breakfast and the cool chat with Jean. Due to our short-term decision not to drive the col du Tourmalet, we were still looking for an accommodation on the way to Col d'Aubisque. Quite quickly we got a positive answer from Quentin and Mathilde, about 40 km away. Since it should only go slowly uphill for the time being, we thought this was a feasible distance. Miraculously, the rain stopped just as we were about to set off and for the rest of the day, we only saw a few raindrops. For now, it was time to cycle back down the long road that leads to the house. This time also in daylight. We cycled today's vertical meters over a long distance, which was very pleasant. Always in front of our eyes: The Pyrenees - and they became bigger and bigger. Upon arrival in Pau, we took a break at the canoeing centre and watched the canoeists on their courses. With fresh energy, we continued our journey to our next warmshower hosts. Quentin and Mathilde welcomed us with a delicious specialty made of duck and baked potatoes. We chatted a lot about hiking in the mountains and traveling in general - time flew by way too fast.
I spent a long time in bed on Sunday morning (09/25/22). Tilman had already got up and together with Quentin he soldered our light and the charger back together. After a rich breakfast we made our way to Aucun to see Gwen. Only 30 km - but the last ones were pretty tough! From Argeres-Gazost, it started to go uphill and the first peaks of the Pyrenees towered up next to us, as if they wanted to swallow us. That's when I realized for the first time that we really are in the Pyrenees - a place I've never been before. Seeing the sheer walls looming up next to you and watching the clouds play with the peaks in front of you is quite awe-inspiring. Unfortunately, we cannot capture this in pictures, as well as the strain in our legs, which forced us to take a break every few meters. Just before Gwen's house, we watched people on a paragliding training ground. Gwen invited us to sleep in a room in her gîte. A beautiful mountain hut! What better way to spend a night in the Pyrenees? Especially with such great company! Gwen is also a professional guide for outdoor tours in the Pyrenees and was able to tell us all sorts of things. For example, where to find the best place to see marmots.
Monday morning (September 26th, 2022) began with some bureaucracy for Tilman. After going back and forth with his old health insurance company, he decided to switch and, as promised, received a call on Monday morning at 8:00 am. At a more humane time, Gwen joined us for breakfast. She also brought two photo books from her previous tours along. When we were finally ready to leave, she accompanied us a little further into the village to the post office. Here we parted ways and after the next curve it went uphill for us. Our goal in the far distance: Col du Soulour and col d'Aubisque. We realized early on that you can't really trust the kilometer signs from ... in terms of "expected gradient". And so, it went uphill for us in “stop and go”-motion. My legs have rarely burned that much before and that's why we took a longer break halfway up. After even more torment, we came across a cow just before the pass, which had made itself comfortable on the street. At the top, there was a winning photo :)
But that's not all. Since it's really windy at 1474 m, we decided on a short descent and ascent again, which you have to cover between the two passes. What an indescribable feeling to be able to roll a few meters downhill after this ascent with a wonderful view. A herd of cows probably also wanted us to enjoy it longer and placed themselves in the middle of the street. For this view, which we were allowed to enjoy for the next 4 km, the hardships were really worth it!
After that, unfortunately, it was uphill again to the Col d'Aubisque. What started with a comfortable 2% - 3% slope quickly turned into a good 7% slope on the remaining kilometers. We were often motivated by motorcyclists and a Belgian guy even took a picture of us!
At about 4 p.m. we could finally say on Aubisque: We made it! But you can certainly see our relief in the following pictures.
The descent was relatively steep, so we had to take breaks between curves and deserted ski resorts to let our brakes cool down. After all, they have to slow down approx. 200 kg!
Back in the valley near Laruns, we met another tourer-hiker-climber from Germany in front of the supermarket and together we made our way to the Camping Municipal. Feeling relatively cold from the descent, we wanted to warm up some water for tea and even got a gas cooker on loan from our camping neighbors. With a warm cup of tea in hand, Toralf became the first guest in our tent and after a long chat we fell asleep, exhausted but proud of our achievement.
As announced by our tent neighbor yesterday, Tuesday morning (09/27/22) greeted us with rain and mountains hiding in the clouds. On days like these it is particularly difficult to crawl out of our warm sleeping bag. All the more so if you still have the pass to Spain (Col du Pourtalet) ahead of you. The general motivation was limited, but since the rain eventually turned into a light drizzle, we packed our things, said goodbye to Toralf and cycled uphill. At least we made it to the Intermarché 2 km later. There, we hoped to find small plastic bags for our feet in the fruit and vegetable section. (Unfortunately - in this case) the ecological change has already arrived in the Pyrenees and we could only find paper bags... One park later, we found what we were looking for in the form of dog poop bags. And let me tell you: They did their job very well! But enough with the dawdling - the first kilometer display revealed to us: in 27 km it's done. Due to the rather wet weather, only a few cyclists passed us. But here, too, we quickly realized that the predicted gradients for the coming kilometers could not be correct. Our legs definitely spoke a different language. At a small picnic spot, we used the rain break to brush our teeth in peace. The first kilometers, about 1/3 of the way, were very winding and we were glad that the cars overtook us carefully. At lunchtime, we stopped in Gabas (the last village before Spain) as usually in the anteroom of a chapel. There, we had some lunch, rested and dried our tent. Tilman's comment: "It's freaking cold here".
The middle part of the route went fairly straight through a valley, so that we could aready see the rest of the route in front of us. Personally, this was my favorite part of the Pourtalet. It wasn't just the gentle incline, it was the view.
The last 10 km and 5 km signs made us dance with joy at first. However, that was because we didn't know how exhausting they would actually be. The drizzle started again and the temperature dropped with every meter of altitude. The landscape also became more barren. Less green, more rocks. On the last 3 km we thought we could even hear a marmot, but unfortunately we could only see their burrows. Finally, a German hiker came towards us. Our goal was getting closer!
And then... Finally we made it! In wind, rain and 6°C we crossed the Col du Pourtalet at around 5.30 p.m. After about 7.5 hours uphill we rewarded ourselves with a hot chocolate in one of the bars above. We must have looked so cold that they immediately put the heater closer to us. Of course we didn't want to spend the night here, so we got back on our bikes to finally cross the border to Spain. Lo and behold: The sun and a rainbow awaited us on the other side :)
The descent was, to put it mildly, cold! We found a place sheltered from the wind on the plain near Biscas and immediately fell asleep in our tent.
On Wednesday (09/28/22) our plans changed frequently. First we wanted to go to Zaragoza. We discarded the plan because we weren't sure if we could ride our bikes on the road from Huesca to Zaragoza. So we first drove in the direction of Jaca. Again, there would have been 2 options. One would have taken us to Logroño via the “Bardenas Reales” desert and the other to Pamplona. However, before we could make this decision, we had to move on. But as soon as we left the Pyrenees, the foothills of the Pyrenees awaited us with a strong headwind. True to the motto: "If no mountains, then wind." And so we cycled our way to Jaca - only interrupted by a little siesta. We found that the bus stops are perfect for having a bite to eat while sheltered from the wind.
Upon arrival in Jaca, we were delighted to learn that we were allowed to stay with Yhovana from warmshowers tonight. After days of exertion, a shower is really good. In Jaca itself we cycled around for a while. Jaca has a fairly beautiful and impressive castle complex that has held off French invaders from the Pyrenees since the 16th century.
In general, the landscape has changed quite a bit on the other side of the Pyrenees. Much drier and we have the feeling to be in the wild west. To Yhovanas village we still had a good climb, along an airfield and over a very unpleasant gravel road. Since our map is not quite up to date in the remote parts of Spain, we were unable to find her house, so we sat down in the marketplace and waited for her. The village was altogether beautiful and we quickly realized that there are many efforts here to settle more people in the countryside.
Yhovana picked us up from the market. After a quick shower we chatted a lot and made dinner. I could finally practice my Spanish and I'm already looking forward to when it finally gets better. From Yhovana we learned that there is a beautiful route to Zaragoza, where a big bike festival is to take place on Saturday. Of course we didn't want to miss out on that and went to Zaragoza after all. That's how it is with plans :)
After a restful night, we had breakfast with Yhovana on Thursday (09/29/22) and then cycled down the hill towards Zaragoza. Unfortunately, Spain didn't keep their rainless promise when they greeted us at the Col du Pourtalet and so our rain gear was used again. In the foothills of the Pyrenees we then had to cross the comparatively low pass of Santa Barbara. I wouldn't say that we did it casually, but it was much easier than the last few days... As a reward, the sun finally came out. And since I got a headache from the wet rain and the strong wind, we made a long lunch break at the “Embalse de la Peña” reservoir.
After a long siesta at the beautiful reservoir, we continued through the gorge along the "Mallos de Riglos". The area we cycled through is a well-known paradise for climbers in Spain. As we cycled along the slopes, we also knew why. At least now we felt like we were in the wild west. At a vantage point we met two people from Augsburg who were traveling with an interesting bus.
Looking back, we are very, very grateful to Yhovana for sending us along this wonderful route. Sometimes it's the unexpected that you have to embark on and that in the end you can only dream of. We continued through a slightly hilly landscape and the beautiful village of Ayerbe until we found a well-hidden place to sleep. Hardly a cloud could be seen in the sky. We decided to set the alarm for 2am to see the stars and it was worth it!
As always when we pitch our tent somewhere, we got up early the next morning and watched the rising sun play with the clouds. Since we had a starry night, it was really cold in the morning and we put on our warm clothes. Driven by the wind always forwards or sideways, a few kilometers later we sought some protection behind a pile of hay bales and had a rich breakfast.
The roads continued to lead us downhill and with a bit of tailwind we were on our way quickly. We were already in Zaragoza around 1:00 p.m. We were greeted with a brilliant view of the basilica.
Since Yhovana's girlfriend was still working, we made ourselves comfortable on the square, enjoyed the sun and talked on the phone a bit. Then we carried our tandem up one floor to Carmen's friends, showered, took a nap and when Marta came home, we quickly went shopping to make pizza. And so ends an eventful and exhausting week, let's see what adventures Spain still has in store for us.
Since a lot happened last week, we didn't have much time to write. Since this is now better in Zaragoza, there is a star constellation again this week. This time it's not a planetarian's favorite constellation, but it is the constellation that was directly above our destination: the Autumn Quadrangle. Here in Spain it doesn't feel particularly autumnal, but in Germany it seems even more so. As the name suggests, the constellation consists mainly of four stars and belongs to the constellation Pegasus. Pegasus is a winged horse from Greek mythology. In the starry sky, however, it flies upside down and gives a funny picture. There are even more constellations surrounding Pegasus, all of which together tell a story. After I have introduced you to all the characters in the coming weeks, the story will come :)
