Homewards Bound

Had a very light dose of food poisoning with a short spell of diarrhoea during saturday night. Felt pretty off on sunday with a headache and diminished appetite. Had a lazy day to help recovery and decided that I would finish off the trip early and head homewards. Had one more night in a hotel in the Alps on Sunday and then drove homewards on Monday getting all the way to Deauville that night. Had most of the day free in Deauville for a wander / cycle around. Looked like a very nice place.

Got the ferry at around 4.30 pm and arrived on Portsmouth a bit late at around 10 pm. Spend the night at a premier inn nearby.

Wednesday was a long drive home which went very smoothly arriving back around 6 pm.

Happy with the decision to head home early. Missed 3 days in the hills but doubtful I could have done more than one of these given the illness. Had planned a few easy days my Lake Geneva before the race in Aigle. Having checked the results I'm confident I would have been last place in the TT event so no regrets in that regard.

Grand Tour - Day 15 - Alpe D'Huez

Big climb up Alpe D'Huez. Consistently steep at generally around 10% compared to the typical 8% on other climbs. Had a silly cleats stuck in pedals static fall which required a visit to the repair shop at the top of the hill - had a second look at the brakes and rear pads replaced which was good.

Feeling a bit off in the evening. Hoping it is just heat and tiredness and not a stomach bug! Fingers crossed.

Grand Tour - Day 14 - Col de l'izoard

A big clim up the Col de L'Izoard - around 1250 m of climb to a summit height of 2360 m. Not easy but legs were feeling pretty good and the temperatures were cool which probably helped.

Afterwards a fairly unpleasant drive through the mountains to my next stop at Bourg L'oisans ready for Alpe D'Huez tomorrow.

 

Grand Tour - Day 13 - Arles and onwards to Briancon in the Alps

A flat ride of about 30 miles from Arles. Pleasant enough but not terribly photogenic as very flat with few long vistas.

 A fairly lengthy onward drive into the Alps and first stop there at Briancon. Hotel in the middle of the ancient old town so not good for the car with google maps sending me towards some tiny alleys. Nice trout for dinner.

Grand Tour - Day 12 - Narbonne Plage & Port La Nouvelle and on to Arles

Drove out of town to start the ride. Effectively two out and backs from a central point and both on very good cycle paths well away from any traffic.

Firstly out towards Narbonne Plage first along canal and past lagoon and into a summer resort that was still off season but a good number of runners and cyclists.

 Then from the start point out to Port La Nouvelle which was similar canal and lagoon side paths before reaching the very industrial edge of Port La Nouvelle and then through to the seafront resort. Had a stupidly large risotto for lunch which I can still feel in my belly 8 hours later. A slow but wind assisted ride back to finish off the 45 mile ride.

A 2 hr drive onwards to Arle and a walk into town and a wander. Really nice relaxed and pretty town centre.

Grand Tour - Day 11 - Ride from Carcassonne and Narbonne

Nice ride in the morning. Keeping it easy today with a simple out and back as far as I felt going. The Canal du Midi was relatively busy with boats of various types tackling the locks along the route. Had hoped for a coffee and cake at the furthest village on the ride but sadly there was nothing open. Stopped in modern central Carcassonne on the return for coffee and pastry.

 A short drive in the afternoon to Narbonne with some time in the hotel to catch up on work and book hotels for the rest of the trip. Cycled into Narbonne centre. Very bike unfriendly town and not a nice ride at all. The centre had some interesting roman elements and some fine old churches but it felt like a town dominated by cars and fumes. Cycle "lanes" just an encouragement to cycle into oncoming traffic and hope for the best.

Grand Tour - Day 10 - Toulouse Cycle and onwards to Carcassonne

Quite a long ride in the morning from the edge of Toulouse into and through the centre of Toulouse. Another town with a great network of cycle paths which were extremely busy this morning which I guess was around commuter rush hour. Eventually moved onto less busy canal side paths getting around 20 miles of of Toulouse before turning and taking a cross country route back towards the parked car. Around 46 flattish miles on this ride.

After that I drove onwards for about an hour towards Carcassonne and another fairly poor Ibis at the edge of town. From there I cycled into the old Citadel for a wander around and attempt to get some decent photos which proved quite challenging. A beautiful well preserved citadel but fairly tacky inside. Found a nice square to sit in for dinner choosing a very meaty and delicious cassoulet with a glass of wine.

 

Grand Tour - Day 9 - Col D'Aspin and Toulouse

Final climb in the Pyrenees was the very pleasant Col D'Aspin from Arreau. A slightly short ascent than some recent climbs and not a ski resort route although there were quite a few well behaving motor bikers out as well as the pedal cyclists.

Onwards from Arreau (after a wee wander round the village) to my hotel Mercure at the outskirts of Toulouse. Cycled into town and had a good wander around the town centre visiting a couple of cathedrals on the way. A nice Salad Nicoise for dinner at Place du Capitole. The city looked well with a nice ambience in the evening sun.

Grand Tour - Day 8 - Lac de Cap-de-long

After the Tourmalet climb I knew I wouldn't be on good form today to drove a substantial part of the way up to Lac de Cap-de-long. A remote area with no through traffic and the focus on the large lakes and reservoirs rather than the skiing so narrower roads and little traffic. The shortened climb was still heavy going and the old times from the local cycle club were passing me on the road.

Back at the car I did a short 1 hour hike which the legs felt more comfortable with.

Grand Tour - Day 7 - Col du Tourmalet

Packed up from the nice B&B in Adast and drove through to Luz Saint Sauveur and arrived ready to ride around 9 am. Big one today up the massive Col du Tourmalet with around 1500 m of climbing.

Was progressing quite well as I headed into the small town of Bareges when I heard a pop from the saddle and it had moved to a distinctly upward facing position. After a few hundred metres passed the town it had got worse and I knew I wouldn't make in onwards without fixing it. Stupidly I didn't have my tools with me and there were no cycle shops in the town. It was still easy to go down so I did so back to the start to do the repairs and drove back up to where I had got to and continued the ride.

It was a long hard slog in great weather to the summit which was a bit of a building site for the most part. They are going to have to work quickly to be ready for the Tour de France in July. The weather started to turn at the top so I wrapped up and made the long rapid descent.

After a coffee and pizza in Luz I drove onwards to my next stop in Saint-Lary-Soulan a ski resort that seemed very much still in off season. Stayed at a Pierre & Vacances residence which gave me a bit of extra space in the room.

 

Grand Tour - Day 6 - Tired Legs

Attempted the ride up to Hautacam ski resort but legs were not in the mood and after about 30 mins of climb decided to call it a day and do a flat ride along a cycle path towards Lourdes. Stopped there for a coffee before a return and along the cycle path and a nice lunch of trout and veg in Argeles-Gazost.

In the afternoon got some hay fever medicine which I desperately needed as my nose and eyes were badly effected over the past 2 days. Then did a load of washing at the machines outside the supermarket.