We blasted across France to get to the Pyrenees, knowing we can ride in France pretty easily anytime. Our plan was to get over to Portugal with a stop at a friends place near Benidorm and a couple of days riding around the Pyrenees sections.
However, fate and life intervened a bit and so we ended up with only one day of riding, mainly due to the van problems catching up with us...
We met up with some friends of Lucy's at the town of Sort. They were on a paddling & cycling trip, so we parked up and had a beer or two and a gossip, which is always a good thing! The van had another brakes problem on the drive and we'd gone past a garage full of local 4x4's and vans en route, so we'd booked it in to have the oil and the brake fluid changed, the mechanic took one look at the discs and said, no to changing the fluid as the brakes would still be crap, so change the discs, pads, fluid or nowt at all... OK, so we added two rear tyres to the list and effectively the bill was our budget for Portugal, so...
With the van in the garage and the dog in safe hands, we went riding!
The garage guys had a bike and told us about some lanes to a ski resort, this linked to a section of the TET and so a loop was sorted...
We climbed through the forest to the ski resort of Port Annie 2000 from the village of Vilamur, then did a rolling loop to the Pic D'Orrie and a bergerie where we had a coffee and a sandwich. We picked up the TET part of the trail and followed it for about 20km, climbing and rolling down through the forest. It was a little bit of what we'd ridden in the Vince the previous year and close to the Andorran border.
We followed thr trails down through the trees, had a play in the river and the climbed back around past some old ruined villages to get back into the trees. A bit of rain and thunder started here, so we set a pace to complete the loop before we got soaked!
Great riding, plenty of forest stuff but also some great views... We were almost at the road when we spotted some of the military look out posts that are dotted around this area from the war
Riding in the Pyrenees is always good fun, with plenty to see too. This was not a technical ride at all, but it was interesting and as always it was good to be back on the bikes after too much time in the van!
We returned back to the van to find a part was incorrect and we had another 3 hour wait, so we had coffee and chatted with the mechanics before finally paying up and driving away to another riverside campsite.
Where next was the question?
However, fate and life intervened a bit and so we ended up with only one day of riding, mainly due to the van problems catching up with us...
We met up with some friends of Lucy's at the town of Sort. They were on a paddling & cycling trip, so we parked up and had a beer or two and a gossip, which is always a good thing! The van had another brakes problem on the drive and we'd gone past a garage full of local 4x4's and vans en route, so we'd booked it in to have the oil and the brake fluid changed, the mechanic took one look at the discs and said, no to changing the fluid as the brakes would still be crap, so change the discs, pads, fluid or nowt at all... OK, so we added two rear tyres to the list and effectively the bill was our budget for Portugal, so...
With the van in the garage and the dog in safe hands, we went riding!
The garage guys had a bike and told us about some lanes to a ski resort, this linked to a section of the TET and so a loop was sorted...
We climbed through the forest to the ski resort of Port Annie 2000 from the village of Vilamur, then did a rolling loop to the Pic D'Orrie and a bergerie where we had a coffee and a sandwich. We picked up the TET part of the trail and followed it for about 20km, climbing and rolling down through the forest. It was a little bit of what we'd ridden in the Vince the previous year and close to the Andorran border.
We followed thr trails down through the trees, had a play in the river and the climbed back around past some old ruined villages to get back into the trees. A bit of rain and thunder started here, so we set a pace to complete the loop before we got soaked!
Great riding, plenty of forest stuff but also some great views... We were almost at the road when we spotted some of the military look out posts that are dotted around this area from the war
Riding in the Pyrenees is always good fun, with plenty to see too. This was not a technical ride at all, but it was interesting and as always it was good to be back on the bikes after too much time in the van!
We returned back to the van to find a part was incorrect and we had another 3 hour wait, so we had coffee and chatted with the mechanics before finally paying up and driving away to another riverside campsite.
Where next was the question?
