Col du Soulor and Col d l’Aubisque

After yesterdays warm up ride, the consensus was why the hell are we starting so early for? We are on holidays.
So a more salubrious 10am roll out was agreed. It seems that this is still not very French of us, as it appears that the locals roll out until midday, or later.

At the Tour de France it has been a regular stage finish or even found in the middle of a very hard day during the Tour.
For us, there is plenty of hill here to fill our day. The climb is really varied as we progress. Just out of town at Argeles-Gazost it’s grazing (all the livestock have short legs on the left side so they can stand on the steep hills), then a few dotted villages, some so cute like Masons, that only a video has enough words. The countryside started to get a bit wild as we approach a 4 way valley junction. The road decides we are heading towards this big, gnarly, bald and sculpted looking peak. It looks too close to be our destination - but that’s because is so damn big. Towards the top. The features of the road matter less up here because our eyes are constantly drawn to that big gnarly peak. Just wow!
The first obstacle is the Col du Soulor where we descend on a cafe for coffee and food. Here we have our first real communication failure, and we leave after a lengthy stop with a Coke and not much else.
That is soon forgotten because the descent and climb between Soulor and Col d’Aubisque, called the Cirque du Litor , a balcony road, built into the side of the mountain and cutting through tunnels give a unique and dramatic perspective of the Pyrenees. Even better for us we get to see it again in reverse as we are turning around to retrace our route for an almost 30k descent back to town.Read more