Tourmalet

So last night in Roxvanne was incredibly hot. The temperature hadn’t dropped much and it felt like a sweat box. Teresa and I had a slightly heated discussion regarding opening the side window in the back which was stuck due to not being used frequently. I said I would fix it today when we got to the mountains and that anyway I didn’t think it a good idea to have it open due to our location and that Tre wouldn’t like a strange hand reaching through the window in the the night and grabbing her leg. End of discussion.
We had set the alarm and got up at 7.30am. hopped in the front, drove up the road 50m dragging the bloody bottom shield with us and then a quick spun round and 70m back down the road to the front gate of the Renault dealership to await its opening at 8am.
A lady opened the gates dead on 8am and we followed in. Thankfully she made us totally welcome and told us the mechanics arrived at 9am and they would sort it, she then gave us both a coffee. My still limited but improving French understood Tre telling her about our travel plans and what had happened last night. She told the receptionist we had slept in Roxvanne in the street outside overnight. The receptionists eyes widened and I detected in her reply the word ‘Risqué’. She continued to tell us about the area outside of her fenced yard and even I knew it wasn’t good. We had apparently slept in the local ‘Hood’ and she was surprised we had escaped unscathed. I think my comments about windows being open the night before suddenly hit home with Tre 🫣
9am the mechanic arrived and Rox was fixed in 10 minutes once on a ramp. The offending piece removed as it was knackered and now in the back of our van and we were on our way.
Strangely we think our mobile phones had been listening to our conversations in the garage as the first to songs that randomly played in Spotify were ‘In Da Club’ and ‘ Gangsta’s Paradise’.
It wasn’t long before we had exited Angoulême heading basically south - we headed towards Coutras on the D674. Onto Libourne and then skirting the south of Bordeaux. We stopped once on this stage to grab a couple of coffees in a boulangerie. Tre had a pain au raisin pastry and I had two small dumpling like breads with lardons within and cheese covering the top.
We travelled the A62 south east and then the A65 south to Pau. The weather was still roasting and so we had another couple of pit stops to get cold drinks - to avoid opening our fridge until we needed to onsite, when we arrived.
We then took the A64 east towards Tarbes where we then turned off towards the mountains and Bagnerés-De-Bigorre and then on the D935 to Campvan. At this point we hit a procession of large white motor homes winding there way up towards the summit, some of which driven by muppets who couldn’t handle the vehicle they were in. To make it slightly worse the local area had decided to re mark the white lines on the road, probably for the TV cameras in two days time and hopefully to assist the tour cyclists with reading the road route. We managed to get past them and continued slowly upwards at times in first and second gear on the hairpins and up towards La Mongie, which was rammed with people, motorhomes and tents - absolute chaos, but in a good way.
We had arranged to meet our friends Craig and Kate who had already parked up just below Tourmalet on the downward side for Thursday, so we passed through La Mongie up to the peak of Tourmalet (Tre on occasions with her head in the footwell when we made some turns) and started to descend the other side. When from a distance I saw C&K’s van I knew Tre would never sleep if I parked next to them. Just opposite on the safe side of the road a space had just been vacated and so I threw Roxvanne into it. C&K then moved there and over to where we had parked also, as more room then the cliff edge they had been parked on.
We then set about setting up home for the next couple of days, eating food (Craig loves cooking) and having a few beers and wine while catching up on all things that had happened over the last months.
I have known Craig since I was 12 and as best mates have seen and done quite a bit together 🙄
Kate was Craig’s new girlfriend not long after that and has been a constant in my life I’m pleased to say since then. As you might imagine there isn’t a subject that is not on the table for discussion.
At about 11pm we called it a night and we retired to a refreshingly cool Roxvanne for a good nights sleep.
Tomorrow is a rest day in the mountains for us, time to chill.

Song of the day:
Gangsta’s Paradise - CoolioRead more