The previous week we had climbed as a practice, one of the highest cols in our area, the Col de Vent, about 11K long and rising to 703 metres. This achieved, in a temperature of 32 degrees, we then put the bikes on the back of our car and headed off to the Hautes-Pyrenees.
Driving from the Mediterranean to the mountains our biggest worry was the weather as we knew that the authorities do close the cols if it becomes too bad.
Our chosen route was to take the route via Campan, and on leaving the village we soon spotted a sign saying ‘Tourmalet’ 22 K away and here the road climbed at a steady 3 to 5%.Passing through Saint-Marie de Campan the road surface improved to a smoother surface but from here on the percentage immediately rose. 8,9 and 10% for mile after mile, around hairpin bends, through the tunnels, we climbed, only three other cyclists, not many cars but quite a few motor cycles for the best part of 8 miles.
We could see up ahead buildings and arrived in the ski village of La Mongie in mid- afternoon, here we decided to take a coffee break to warm us up.
Whist we took a breather over coffee unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse, the winds became stronger and the temperature which had been mid-teens when we started plummeted.
We were just 4K from the summit, had the largest percentages behind us but after chatting to a couple of motor cyclists who had just come over the top took the hard decision to turn around and descend from there rather than the top.
The choice we agonised over proved to be correct as on the long, steep descent we became very, very cold and were shivering when passing back through Campan.
Coming down we realized just what we had achieved and ended the day more than happy with our day’s work.
We took a few photos of the adventure.
Jennie and David Jackson
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