To Lourdes

May 27, 2024

A swing and miss

Sometimes, even this amazing guide cannot save the day. In the morning there was low overcast with a very heavy mist, pretty much the weather forecast. As suspected, today`s ride was going to be write off. We had planned to ride to Bagnères-de-Bigorre but instead, substituted train travel to Lourdes. On the positive side, the going forward daily weather forecasts were looking much better now than yesterday afternoon. Our new plan for the day would accomplish a number of things. 1) we would not need to ride far in the rain, 2) Lourdes is a big enough center that we could get our much needed laundry done and 3) we could maintain most of the original route design with good weather in the forecast. Lots of wins and we will also get in a rest day.

Even in a mist you will get quite damp on a 10KM ride. We reached the train station at Montréjeau with lots of time to catch the 10:30 intercity direct train to Lourdes. Just one problem - the ticket agent said the train was already full. The next departure was at 11:30 and would require a connection in Tarbes. Well if that is all there is, I guess, we will wait for 90 minutes. At 10:20 we had a thought, why not just get on the 10:30 and take our chances? It is only a 50 minute ride on the direct train with just one stop in Tarbes. Would they kick us off? We decided that we were going to find out.

By the time Scott carried both bikes down a flight stairs, across the tunnel under the tracks and back up the stairs on the other side, the train for Lourdes had arrived. The train doors were open and chimes ringing. We pushed our bikes inside the nearest car and the doors closed behind us. It turned out to be a wheelchair accessible car and there was lots of room for our bikes. We waited nervously in the entry/exit door area for a conductor to come but no one even asked for our tickets. When the train left the first and only stop at Tarbes, we knew that we were home free. It was a great feeling to save a couple of hours in our day and to not have the aggravation of a regional train with multiple stops and connections.

The view as we left on our ride to the train station.

Ready for weather and the next train out.

Pretty much the same weather all the way to Lourdes.

The train goes right past a plane storage yard with lots of carriers parking their surplus aircraft.

We checked in to our hotel before noon, now that`s another bonus! We gathered up all our dirty clothes, which for Scott was just about everything, and headed to the laundry mat. Commercial washing machine systems are all different and the instructions for using them often confusing. We now try to rely on anyone also doing their laundry at the same time to lead us through the process. Fortunately, today there was another lady doing her laundry and we asked if she could help us. She was excellent as she whisked us through the payment, machine selection, soap system etc. Afterward Scott said, ¨your English is perfect¨ to which she replied, ¨thank you, I have a Masters Degree in English Studies.¨ Things could not have been going any better for us on a rainout day. We headed off for a coffee and a pastry treat.

The army was at the train station. This is their idea of brown baggin it!

Arrival in Lourdes, wet looking but it was not raining....yet.

Another of Lourdes' many impressive churches.

This coincidence is amazing -- as are these two ladies. We were walking back from the laundry mat and these two cyclists appeared. We all recognized each other immediately! You are the Canadians from the col Peyresoude! It was two days prior that we had met and they had since ridden all the mountain cols in between and had just come down from a cold and cloudy Col du Tourmalet. One of their days involved cycling 1700 metres vertical. They were now leaving the mountains to get to the coast and a train back to Toulouse.

Lourdes is not a city that we had planned to see. In the afternoon after all the chores were done, we went out to have a look around. We found it a bit of an odd place. There are many many large old hotels, a large number of ethnic restaurants (pizza was big, too) and numerous religious trinket stores full of religious statues and other memorabilia. The streets were busy with people and large tour buses that hardly fit the roads. Then the rain began. We hustled back to our hotel and stayed put as it rained the remainder of the day and evening. We wondered how tomorrow could possible be sunny as forecasted?

The bridge over Gave de Pau River and the route back to our hotel.

In the end, it really was a perfect day and not a ¨swing and a miss¨ at all. We have a great plan for tomorrow, our clothes are clean and our legs are ready for our most challenging ride of the tour. Bring on the sun!

Heart

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Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 797 km (495 miles)

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Rachael AndersonGreat job adapting to the situation! You get a rest day and clean laundry.
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6 months ago

Barry DevlinGood that the train cops didn't get ya. Or else, you wouldn't have got your laundry done!
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6 months ago