June 7, 2023
Day 51 - Tremp to Col de Nargo
Double Dipping
Deja vu? Groundhog Day with Bill Murray? The Truman Show?
No, none of the above. Although today had a lot of similarities to yesterday there was one very significant difference.
Yes, we started with another ‘all day uphill’ climb, 22 km and over 800 m elevation gain, and finished with another screaming downhill, 17 km and 800 elevation loss. However we got a bonus double dip with a 7 km rolling downhill and uphill after our first col, Eaidella, 1250 m, through spectacular alpine country before we topped out at our second col, Boixols at 1380 m.
Serendipity came into play today too. When we woke up this morning, we did what we normally do. No, not throw our legs over the side of the bed and jump up to meet the day. We grabbed our tablets and scrolled away on emails and other CB’ers journals to see what they were up to. We would crawl out from under the covers in due course, but it’s a process that takes some time.
Anyway, our scrolling hit upon the recent happenings of Team Anderson, who we owe a particularly large debt for this entire trip. Well it turns out that Scott Anderson finally got around to filling out his CB profile and as per his standards, it was very well written and thorough. So thorough that he had a single highlight picture many of the years that he and Rachael have been touring ….there were a lot of pictures. Well, it turns out the pic from 2017 is of Scott at the Col de Boixols sign accompanied by his comments on what a fantastic ride that was.
It’s fitting that that’s the ride we’re doing today, and we can dedicate today’s ride to TA as homage for all they’ve done for literally blazing the trail, and leaving the necessary breadcrumbs, for the rest of us to follow.
Sincere thanks from us for showing what’s possible, and the best ways to get there. Today was no exception, just another day of exceptional riding.
It wasn’t all unicorns and moonbeams though. Our start was a little delayed as when I went to wheel my bike out of the parking garage, my front tire was pretty soft …. maybe 1 bar of pressure. I had remarked yesterday that my steering was a bit off, and attributed it to a change in how I packed my front panniers. No way dumb-arse, check your tire pressure! Sure enough there was a slow leak and a small wire was found protruding through the tire. Thirty minutes later a new tube was in and we were pedalling away.
Reread yesterday’s post for the rest of the day - except for the double dip section - and the pictures tell the story far better than my drivel. RD version, climb for several hours, then scream downhill for less than one!
I also have to give a shout out to the Maher-Weary’s as our rides yesterday, today and tomorrow are using their RWGPS maps from their 2022 Pyrenees tour- in reverse. Nobody’s buried Paul yet though and we haven’t seen, or heard The Walrus.
We’re pitched up in a simple friendly hotel in Coll de Nargo tonight, the Hotel Betriu. Turns out that this is the location of the only open restaurant in town tonight too. Better to be lucky than good! Good dinner, tasty …. and filling … most important on these short distance wise, but intense climbing, days.
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SOTD - Dreaming by Imelda May.
This is Imelda’s sparse and beautiful cover of Blondie’s classic. It’s her tribute to Debbie Harry, and in that sense our tribute to TA. We’ve spent many hours pouring over their journals (and others) ‘dreaming’ of where we would like to tour. That’s all coming to fruition now. It’s also a shout-out to the Maher-Weary’s, whose GPS routes we’re using for a few days … their journals have often been Dreaming based, including their Pyrenees routes we’re using now.
It’s a simple beautiful little tune, just like today. Get on your bike and ride through beautiful places. Then get up and do it again.
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https://colombia.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=30187&taxon_id=48596
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Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 2,179 km (1,353 miles)
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Steve got this reference ! I wanted him to respond but he’s snoring beside me😊! Just wanted to say we are enjoying your adventure and reliving our Pyrenees trip through you! Amazing place isn’t it, best of all the views and so little traffic.
1 year ago
We are friends of the Classen’s here in Victoria. My wife and I also bike tour in Europe each year. We are planning a route through the Pyrenees this Spring and have enjoyed reading your postings on CycleBlaze. Your route was primarily through Spain. Others we have read were primarily through France. We would be starting in Barcelona and biking to San Sebastián. We are trying to decide which route is better and would appreciate your thoughts on it. You can contact us as ebikestouring@gmail.com if you have the time to connect with us.
Thanks
John and Darlene
10 months ago
First, my sincere apologies for taking so long to reply to your message. The last few months have been incredibly busy for me and Kirsten as we were heavily involved in running the final Biathlon World Cup races of the season here in Canmore.
Looking at your note, I realize that this reply will probably land when you are either on tour or just about to start, and your decisions will have already been made.
As for which route would be better, we really don't have the right background to give an opinion as we've only been of the Catalonia / Basque side. It was wonderful (one of the best area's we've toured), however I'm very confident the French side would be equally great and the culture (Basque) pretty similar.
Take your pick (or do some of both!), I don't think you can go wrong.
For what it's worth, our next big tour will be in the spring of 2025 and we are thinking of starting in Santander and then head east & south, ending up in southern Italy via the Croatian / Albanian coast. We're thinking of riding the French side of the Pyrenees for this trip ... just for something new and different.
Have a great tour,
Lyle & Kirsten
7 months ago