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Published: September 2nd 2010
I am officially in the Pyrenees, after what was a comparitively simple day of skirting the North side of the real mountains for 95 miles. Having set off from Bayonne at just before 10, I immediately found myself going up a pretty steep hill surrounded by farm animals, which I hadn't really counted on. This was short lived as after a couple of miles I was heading back down which was was to be a recurrent theme throughout the day, a small taste of things to come no doubt. One thing I will say, is that the bugs in this part of the world are terrifyingly large. I swear something the size of a kitten landed on my leg at one point; my high pitch squeal seemingly scaring it away. Slight exaggeration, however it did scare the hell out of me.
There are two ways I can go from here to get to my next destination (Vielha). The first of which follows a valley for 40 odd miles before getting to the Col d'Aspin. The other is the one I had planned which includes the Col du Tourmalet as you can see here - http://www.bikemap.net/route/631554. Possibly a bit late to put it to any sort of vote, however if you do happen to read this before 8am CET tomorrow any words of encouragement or indeed voices of reason (Dad - I am not taking the train) would be very helpful. More donations are obviously also welcome 😊
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James Hyatt
non-member comment
Take the Col du Tourmalet!
Easy to say from the sofa, but take the col du tourmalet! You cna just pretend you've got contador on your shoulder the whole way up and you'll be up in a flash. Great job so far mate - really enjoying your updates. Lots of love for the Saddo (no pun intended) over here in Bangalore.