May 16, 2024
Aínsa to El Pont de Suert
I’ll start today’s account as we sit in the hotel bar waiting for the rain to let up. We went to bed last night with both weather apps (YR and Meteoblue) forecasting a bit of light rain occasionally through the day today, but that was no longer the case when we went to get our bikes after breakfast. Both now show fairly heavy rain this morning ending around 11. So we wait.
Many cycle tourers have written about bringing too much stuff, but maybe we’re the opposite. Just now, I’m wishing I’d brought my warmer waterproof cycling pants instead of my (not waterproof) tights, and my midweight merino jersey instead of one of my light ones. We did bring shoe covers this time, and soon we will have to put those on and get going.
While we were waiting, a couple of young cycle tourers were loading up their bikes outside. I went out to say hello and learned they’d started in Barcelona 3 weeks ago and had 3 more weeks. Apparently this was their first day riding in the rain (on this trip, I presume, since it wasn’t their first tour). They’d gone for a hike yesterday. We watched them start off in the cold steady rain, in shorts, one with panniers I don’t think were waterproof. We must have done that at that age, but not anymore!
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We got going shortly before 11, and around 11 the rain let up. Unfortunately, it kept trying to come back all the way to Campo, but never to the point there was treacherous water on the road.
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It was a fast, chilly descent to the Campo tunnel. After the tunnel, we saw the sign Lyle had mentioned, with the black plastic now hanging in tatters. It seemed N-260 was open so we decided to take that route, up the Ésera gorge.
We soon discovered why the road was closed on the day Lyle and Kirsten hoped to ride it. It’s undergoing a massive widening and rebuild, with tunnels, cantilevered lanes, rock cuts, etc.
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The second real climb, and the biggest, was from Castejón de Sos to Coll de Fadas.
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Then there was a small descent followed by another climb—which really seemed unnecessary.
Finally, the much-awaited long descent, though I have to say, it always pains me to give up all that hard-earned elevation. It was a fun descent, though, all the way to the bridge over the Noguera Ribagorçana. Perhaps the river’s lengthy name is because it separates Aragón and Catalunya?
The ride to this point had been great, though we could have done without the rain. However, in the background of the photo above, you can see the N-230, a complete contrast from the N-260 we’d been on all day and much of yesterday too. The N-230 is a major truck route from France, through the 5 km Túnel de Vielha, and on south to further points in Spain. Unfortunately, the two routes merge for the 6 km between this junction and Pont de Suert, today’s destination. Fortunately, this section didn’t include a tunnel.
Our late start and challenging day (the biggest loaded ride of the trip, unless we decide to ride over the Tourmalet) meant we arrived at our hotel at 6:30 and dinner was available by the time we were settled in and cleaned up. We ate at our hotel’s restaurant and it was a good choice.
Oh yeah—we both did okay in the kit we’d brought. The temperatures and precipitation we encountered in this one day were variable, to put it mildly. There were a lot of layer adjustments throughout the day.
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Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 572 km (355 miles)
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