DAY 12 - Plaisance to Lourdes

Plaisance to Lourdes
47 miles, 436 m climb, 12.5 mph average (somewhat spoiled by having to walk a km in Lourdes' one way system), 2219 kcal used
Weather: cloudy and cool to begin with, warming up to comfortable with sunny spells.

Today was about reaching Lourdes, our first objective. With the shorter day that we had done a couple of days ago, we had a bit further to go than originally planned, but at less than 50 miles, today was not meant to be tough. Because of this, we were fairly relaxed about packing up the tents, and we eventually rolled out of the camp site and into Plaisance at about 10:15.

It initially looked like our normal luck with boulangerie shops was in play to begin with, as the first one we saw was not only closed, it was out of business. Fortunately we found a second and it was excellent and full of goodies (less so after our visit!).

Then we went further into town to get more food, to find that we were doubly in luck as there was a market on. We got some very nice cheese from one stall, including a wonderous 'bleu' made from both cows and buffalo milk. 

Market day at Plaisance, very pleasant, as advertised!

Food efficiently gathered, for once, we headed off on quiet country roads, wending in and out of quiet villages, gradually climbing. At about 10 km in, as we came round a corner we could clearly make out the form of the Pyrenees in the distance, a great moment for all of us. The murky weather made them look in destiny to, grey and merged with the clouds, but their presence was indisputable. One of the great pleasures of the day was watching them change and grow through the day.

The "Bench Conjurors" lunch with friend, St Lezer

We lunched on a green in the small village of St Lezer, picnic benches again magicked up as we needed them. There was a display of giant pieces of slate that we didn't understand, but may have been the remnants of some building. A local dog befriended us, and despite our meanness with our food, he stayed with us throughout lunch. In sunnier conditions we set off again, mountains looming ever larger, climb steepening gradually. 

Mountains growing
(Um, I think you're just getting closer, Blog Support)

We reached the outskirts of Tarbes and had to move into major traffic mode for a while; something we had not had to do for a while. But we navigated through safely and continued to climb on. The air was getting cooler as we climbed higher, with villages subtly changing to tighter clusters of grey buildings. Then we were at the final climb, a brutal but thankfully short stretch at 15% into the village of Bourreac (with a nasty little dab of 17%, just for fun). 

Coming to the final climb

Cresting the top

We stopped to admire the view of the now very close mountains (and draw breath!) before plunging down a short steep switch back descent into Lourdes. We were there!

Lourdes at last!

Our routing app couldn't cope with the one way system, so we had to walk the bikes a bit before getting to our hotel, but we still made it by 4:30 pm. The hotel is basic but has all we need, and our bike bags, necessary to get us and bikes back, had arrived safely. After unpacking, the bikes, doing washing and listening to the English batting collapse, we wandered out into the madness that is Lourdes to find some food ....

Best bits
John - coming round the corner in Heres and seeing the Pyrenees clearly for the first time.
Rowan - watching the Pyrenees grow gradually through the day
Roy - first sight of the Pyrenees at 10 km in
Jeremy - lunch; great food, company and surroundings

Aubisque tomorrow .........