Revisiting the Tourmalet

At the start of the real difficulties 

The hardest climbs used in the Tour de France are classified hors categorie (or HC), meaning 'beyond categorization'. You can see a list of them here; the Tourmalet has been climbed more times in the TdF than any other HC climb. It's in the Pyrenees and, since we were staying in Pau for a couple of weeks, I decided to take my bike in order to climb it. On the only day I could really do it, the weather didn't fully co-operate; low clouds were sticking to the mountains but they were predicted to 'break up' by the middle of the afternoon.

I settled on a loop from Lourdes that let me climb the col from the east side. The first part of the day involved gradual climbing up the valley bottom to St Marie de Campan to the start of the real climbing. The climb is 17 km long, but the first 5 km or so aren't very steep but from then on it's a steady 9% or 9.5% slope to the summit. From near the start I was in the clouds; this helped by keeping me cool but hid the wonderful views on the way up. At the top I took a few pics then had a very chilly descent through the clouds - so much for the clearing forecast. The last 30 km were out of the clouds and a lot more fun, a gradual downhill back to Lourdes.

TdF memorabilia in the summit mist 

I had done the climb 23 years ago and found it hard going back then. I tried to rationalize why it would be easier this time - e.g. I've got lower gears on my bike, I'm doing it on a shorter ride - but of course I was 23 years younger back then! In any event, it didn't seem too bad this time round but it's still quite a climb.

I also took note of my climb rate - just over 700 meters per hour (more details here). This is a really simple way of measuring cycling performance and corresponds to a decent club cyclist and is less than half of the best TdF riders. It's also only a little quicker than I will climb a steep mountain path on foot (around 550 meters per hour) and way slower than I expect to thermal up on a paraglider or sailplane!

The Full Monty on the Crete des Serres

The Crete des Serres is a long ridge that offers a number of hikes from my front door. I've hiked it many times but up to today hadn't done the whole ridge as a single hike. Of course, there's a reason for that - it's pretty long. But I've been waiting for an opportunity and it arrived today. First, it was an unusually cool day for the middle of summer. Second, my wife was going shopping in Italy with friends, so there didn't seem any reason not to do it.

Everything went according to plan; I got home tired but happy after a nearly 9 hour day. A few pics

USA Trip

The Japanese Gardens, Portland, OR

My wife and I had a nice trip to the States. We did the West Coast (where my son lives) and visited Oceanside, Portland and Oceanside. In Portland we stayed in the Alberta quarter, which is on the east side of the city and it was much more interesting (i.e. lively and diverse) than the west side of the city. In particular it was nice to see evidence of resistance to the current Trump presidency.

Inside the Guggenheim, NYC

On the East coast we visited Baltimore (where my daughter lives), Manhattan, Portland Maine, Acadia National Park, a Shaker village in New Hampshire and New Haven. 

You can see some pics here.

An Optimistic Hike

For the third time in a row, the winter has been dry and mild in St Andre. I normally only start hiking in the higher mountains in May, but I guess I got carried away with the summery weather today. I did a standard 5 hour hike around the Col de Vachiere, but the north faces were out of sight from the bottom. They were a lot snowier than I expected and it took more like 7 hours. I had a bit of a diversion to avoid one snow slope and this resulted in my having to cross a river at the end of the day, when it was nicely swollen by melting snow. 

Some pics

South West France Visit

We had a short visit to Pau and Biarritz in SW France. Pau is a very attractive town just north of the Pyrenees; it used to be a fashionable place for wealthy Brits to spend the winter. Biarritz is known for surfing and some obliging young men were in the water so we could get some photos. Some pics of Pau and Biarritz

Nice Day Trip

We left freezing temperatures behind in St Andre for a day trip down to Nice by train. After exploring the market we strolled along the beach; the day was lovely, with several people in swimming. We had a nice lunch in the Vieux Nice before heading up a long hill to the Musee Matisse and took in some culture before the train back home. Some pics

Schiehallion in the Clag

Schiehallion, as seen from Glencoe, is a lovely mountain - a great white triangle rising above Rannoch Moor. Today, I got to climb it but the weather didn't exactly cooperate. Pretty much as soon as I left the car I was in the clouds and it was quite windy; fortunately, the rain was never really heavy. I didn't see anyone else all day - I was the only one daft enough to be out on such a day - and the only break was a quick lunch on the summit. Sometimes, that's what a day on the hill is like in Scotland...