Day 51 - Tremp to Col de Nargo - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023 - CycleBlaze

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.

First flat. Not bad for over 2000 km’s (although I was over 8500 km’s before I had a flat, the only one, on our X-Canada trip)
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The culprit.
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Ok, now the official start of the day picture
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Nice riding through farms for the first 8 km’s to Isona
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Cloudy this morning but a much higher ceiling - except for the one guy who didn’t get the memo! Made for an interesting picture though
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We’ll have roads like this for the next 20 km’s or so. Twisting, turning, and more or less to ourselves
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Proud of their farming heritage, and rightly so.
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Just liked this farm shed in the ripe grain field
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Just prior to taking this pic we rode past a group of about 50 Dutch geology students on a field trip. We got an ovation as we ground past them uphill. Thanks. They were looking at these bed outcrops (interbedded sandstones and shales), we were looking at the upward winding road!
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I count four layers of road
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About 60% of our first climb done and we’re getting great views of the Pyrenees to the north and the fields leading back to Tremp
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Spectacular views. And you could just stop where ever you wanted on the roads … they were almost our private domain.
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Coll 1 done. Lunch break and then some amazing riding to Coll 2 coming up.
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Rachael AndersonCongratulations!
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonThanks. Tomorrow’s a big day going into Castellar. I am enjoying our ‘sleep in’ today.
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1 year ago
Rachael AndersonTo Kirsten KaarsooYou definitely deserve one!
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1 year ago
The start of the sedate little ride between the two colls.
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A little neighbourhood library ??
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Not satisfied with the astounding natural scenery, some of the locals have taken to adding some impressive artwork to the road for us to ride over
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Patrick Parnolike those "hill figures" in England. what did they call those? was it "conceits"? but these are quite good. You would have to time the creation pretty well to make sure cars weren't taking out the artists...
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1 year ago
Scott AndersonSurprising how well the paint is holding up, or maybe it gets reapplied. It’s been four years since we passed through.
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Patrick ParnoThere is no worries about that there are very few cars. We saw maybe 10 at the most in about 2.5 hrs.
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1 year ago
Rachael AndersonI loved this stretch of road!
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1 year ago
Couldn’t fit it all into one pic without climbing about 50 m up a hill …. Here’s the rest of the herd.
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All the beautiful stuff is not big and unmissable … K’s always on the lookout for the little stuff, like this.
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Bill ShaneyfeltLooks like some kind of bellflower.

https://colombia.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=30187&taxon_id=48596
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Bill ShaneyfeltThank you Bill. I would not of thought bell flower but I don’t really know my flowers.
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1 year ago
Whoa! The small village of Boixols is on the other side of this impressively faulted ridge, and the Coll de Boixols is another few km’s ‘up’ the road
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A little look back to where we came from
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A little out of sequence … approaching the ridge before Boixols
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And here’s the beautifully situated village of Boixols
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ann and steve maher-wearyCan you imagine living there?
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo ann and steve maher-wearyBeautiful views but quite isolated. Maybe if you are a farmer or an artist.
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1 year ago
It’s so picturesque it deserves another shot from a different angle
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Scott AndersonIt does. I think I remember this spot more clearly than any other spot from that tour.
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1 year ago
The road we were on is in the very top right corner. Amazing terrain!
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ann and steve maher-wearyYou are on top of the world !
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1 year ago
Finally! Approaching the Coll de Boixols. Somebody’s been here for a while already.
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Karin KaarsooHmmm..... who would be wearing a bright red coat?
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1 year ago
That Godot issue again!
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Rachael AndersonShe’s like I use to be. Not wanting to stop until I got to the top! No I’m into mostly flat cycling and doing my climbing on a hike!
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1 year ago
Not a bad view to have while you’re waiting though.
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A little more ‘sticker’d’ than when the Anderson’s were here in 2017, but it says Coll de Boixols 1380! K gets the picture ‘cause she was here first (as usual)
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Scott AndersonFunny. You almost can’t read the elevation any more.
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1 year ago
… and this one is our tribute to Team Anderson. Thank you for being such a wellspring of information and inspiration for the CB community.
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ann and steve maher-wearyWell done! One of the best cycling days ever for us and you guys too, I can see!
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1 year ago
Scott AndersonThanks so much for all the kind words, and for helping us relive this trip. With luck, we’ll see you in Canmore this summer!
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Scott AndersonYou are welcome. It would be wonderful do have to come visit.
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1 year ago
Rachael AndersonHow nice of you to say that. It means a lot to me!
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonBoth of you deserve it.
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1 year ago
And off we go for another great downhill run into another Pyrenee mountain village
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The spectacular scenery was far from over though
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This is looking good….
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Oh yeah…
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18 km’s of this is tough to take
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Our first sighting of our home for tonight … Coll de Nargo.
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Just another fantastic day in the Pyrenees!
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Scott AndersonKirsten’s starting to look like she’s seen some sun!
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1 year ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Scott AndersonYes the tan lines start to appear. I also have a tendency to take my sun glasses off when I climb as I hate the sweat dripping on them!!
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1 year ago

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 2,179 km (1,353 miles)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 9
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ann and steve maher-wearyThanks for the shout out ! « Nobody’s buried Paul yet though and we haven’t seen, or heard The Walrus. »
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.
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1 year ago
John VincentHello

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
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10 months ago
Lyle McLeodTo John VincentHi John,
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
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7 months ago