In Biert: Day Ride over Col d’Agnes

June 1, 2024

This is our first time staying at a place that bills itself as a “cycling lodge” and we like it. It’s half board and the meals are good; our hosts also have a gig as cook and support for a pro team for their training camps. We are in the countryside between Biert (1 km) and Massat (2 km), both pretty small, so having nutritious meals included is great! I can imagine the dinner conversation if it’s all cyclists, but last night we were joined by one French cyclist and two non-cycling French couples, none of whom spoke English but all seemed like interesting people. Our hosts are from Netherlands but fluent in French and English.

Today's plan was Col d’Agnes, recommended by Patrick O’Hara. The weather forecasts didn’t look great, but no snow or sleet or hail so the ride was a go. We got a reasonably early start, partly because the morning looked much better than the afternoon, weather-wise, and partly because of the Transhumance event today.

What on earth is Transhumance, you may ask. I did. It’s the annual movement of the local cattle herds to their summer pastures and visitors are welcome to walk along. It’s actually a 3-day event! They started on Thursday from Montesquieu Avantès to Rimont, continued on Friday to Biert, and this morning, after a group breakfast with the “éleveurs”, one group set off towards Goutets and another towards Liers. The people (but not the cattle) will be back in Biert tonight for a celebration dinner and dance.

So how does this affect us? The cattle are herded onto D618, the minor highway we start and finish on, just a hundred metres or so from our accommodation, in the direction we want to go. We need to be ahead of them or we will have to follow them, and we don’t want to ride through what they leave behind. We were on the road by 8:30.

Unfortunately, in Massat, 2 km up the road, Al realized he’d forgotten his tights, toque, and buff, things he will want on the descents. He was wearing his gilet and rain jacket to start, but gets cold easily. We thought he might have time to zip back and get them, but he was unsuccessful. The cattle drive must have started early.

Here they come, at 8:43 a.m., halfway between Massat and Les Deux Vélos. Al took this photo and turned around.

I’m always much slower on climbs, so I carried on. I was thinking about TA’s getting scarily separated on this very climb some years ago, as Scott had reminded me in a comment on yesterday’s post. Al caught up well before the lake.

At the official start of the climb in this direction. This is the easier way.

The blue sky is gone, as are any views of the peaks that are up there somewhere.

The route to Port de Lers has forked off but we want to go this way.

There was a little place to get drinks and snacks at the lake, formally Étang de Lers, where we saw a couple of touring cyclists coming out. We didn’t go in because it was still early in our ride, we weren’t cold, and the weather was nice.

I’ve seen a couple of tiny dead animals on the road that might have been desmans, but which I thought at the time were moles.

I fumbled getting my phone out of my pocket so Al, in his orange gilet, is out of the frame. These are the two cyclists that we saw at the lake. They passed me on their ebikes but never caught Al.

Flower of the day. I admired these small plants, each holding up its large (6 cm long) blue blossom.

Approaching the top. If you really zoom in, you can distinguish the sign. I only brought my phone today, needing my handlebar bag for layers.

I bet the view is spectacular on a clear day

I glanced down at my Garmin and was glad to be going down. This side is definitely steeper. (Yes, I stopped to take the photo.)

Aulus-les-Bains was our opportunity to stop for a warming beverage. We were chilled from the descent, especially Al, and it was too early for lunch. A small café/restaurant was open and appeared to be the only place with indoor seating. The town appeared to be a former spa town but all the hotels looked abandoned and Les Thermes, while open according to their website, didn’t seem to be trying very hard for customers on this chilly Saturday.

The descent continued to Ercé, where we turned off onto a smaller road. Al was well ahead, pedalling hard to warm up since the rain had started just after we left the restaurant, and I hoped he made the turn. If he has the navigation on, he also has ClimbPro on, and whenever a climb starts with a turn onto a different road, he misses it because the ClimbPro screen pops up. Sure enough, he came up behind me in Cominac. He’d stopped to wait for me for a few minutes in Ercé, outside a café or bar I hadn’t seen, because it was after the turn. Then he used the “find my” app and realized I was ahead of him. The rain had stopped when he caught up.

We stood in front of the church in Cominac to eat the snack we’d brought. There was a bench, but it was wet.

Zoomed in through the opening in the clouds.

Donkeys in Bénazet. Love the bangs on the one on the left!

We didn’t expect a second summit sign, but we’ll take it! No bike in this one either, for obvious reasons.

We met the D618 right at Biert, where there was an open restaurant. It was quarter to two and the kitchen was still open so we shared a burger/frites and a green salad (the burger was huge). The restaurant was right where I’d descended from Col de Crouzette into Biert in 2016 and discovered it to be closed on Mondays. Today, however, is Saturday.

A shower passed through as we were finishing our meal, but we managed to ride the 1 km to our lodging in the dry. As I write this, it’s pouring outside and we are warm and toasty in our room under the rafters.

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Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,363 km (846 miles)

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Patrick O'HaraNice work. Hope Al is all warmed up now!
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4 months ago

Jacquie GaudetFor sure. Food and a hot shower and a good dinner to come.
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4 months ago

Rachael AndersonWhat a day! I’m glad Al survived the cold and that you found Al after he missed the turn. I’ll never forget how scary it was when Scott and I got separated!
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4 months ago

Scott AndersonSince you mentioned it in the narrative I might as well include a link to that day, which was probably our most frightening day traveling together: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/girona2014/layover-in-saint-girons/#3254_1918997_hs26zh_image

Also, a synopsis. We got separated when Rachael stopped for a nature brake and hid her bike from the road for security, not thinking I’d be along for awhile. I passed her without realizing it, and we spent the next four hours playing ‘who’s in front?’. I reached the summit, waited there for awhile, and then decided she must have kept going for some reason so I dropped off the other side after her. When I got to Aulus and didn’t find her there I turned around and climbed back up. So I climbed the ‘easier’ side, and then climbed most of the way back up the harder side before we finally found each other. Terrible. Rachael still remembers sitting by the road bawling her eyes out at one point.
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4 months ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonThat’s almost exactly how we got separated one day way back c 1990. Now we leave our bikes visible if we’re not riding together.
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4 months ago

Jacquie GaudetTo Rachael AndersonHe usually realizes pretty quickly when he misses turns because Garmin will tell him. I rarely have the navigation running but it’s easy to see when my little marker is no longer on the course so I catch my my missed turns quickly too.
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4 months ago