Majestic mountain scenery

Wednesday 24th May

Time to move on from Pau where we have been very comfortable and explored a lot of the area. I'm not sure how I feel about Pau - it feels like a more modern city than a lot we have visited. Certainly the north end of the  city where we have been staying feels very modern. There are some large businesses with modern buildings, a large sports complex, racetrack, university and major hospital. The centre of the city and moving south of the river has that old town French feel.

Nothing in particular planned along the road today but passing through the town of Lestelle Betherram we crossed an old bridge and looking back there was a series of small chapels along a path up and out of the town. We turned back for photos and found that this village has been known for miracles, and has history from 1300s. 

The church at Lestelle Betherram
- and one of the series of small chapels along a path up the hill.

Headed towards Lourdes where we visited on our first trip to France,  we were passing through a small village where there was a market. A few purchases of cheese, ham and fruit, then lunch at the local boulangerie. It's good to be able to support some of these smaller local businesses.

Our final destination, Bagneres de Bigorre where we have a small apartment. We are here for 4 nights and there is plenty to do to fill our days. The village is a spa centre but I don't think we have time in our few days to visit.

Your dog of the day.
This dog stood there for ages watching the cat.
I think the cat was teasing him as he rolled over then sat up.

Thursday 25th May

I forgot to mention a couple of days ago - one of the passes coming up from Italy (Col de Pourtalet) is closed, so glad we didn't try to come that way. We assumed it was closed due to snow, but found out it is closed due to a landslide early May, with a 30 ton boulder on the road. The closed road comes over the mountains near the petit train that we did on Sunday and they are feeling the lack of tourists from Spain.

A drive day today to check out more of the Tour de France roads. If you are watching the TdeF in July we drove up the Col de Tourmalet. We couldn't go over the top and down the other side as it is closed for them to do roadworks ready for the tour. It was a beautiful drive - some of it sunny, some of it cloudy and foggy. A lot of cyclists out in the fog pushing their wheels up the mountain. It wasnt too hard to get around them but i was more worried about meeting them coming back down at breakneck speed. 

The scenery is just breathtaking - we could 'wow' for ages. We had a few clear patches for photos. Enjoyed a coffee at the ski resort town La Mongie near the top - at ski resort prices. From this town you can catch the cable car up to the Pic du Midi - in summer. We are a week too early - it opens 1st June.

Just a little bit cloudy.
Still a lot of snow around on the top peaks which make for stunning scenery.
Not snow for skiing, but enough to excite us tourists who don't see a lot of snow.

And a big bit cloudy.

A small hut on the roadside on the climb up Col de Tourmalet. 
Lovely artwork.  

A group of alpacas just wandering around on the mountain.
All different colours with a few babies.
We did see one marmot on our way back down
but he scarpered into his hole.

Not quite at the top
- just in case they aren't sure which way to go.

Just short of the top and looking down to the ski village of La Mongie.
We didn't actually get a sense of how high we were climbing
as the road has mostly gentle sort of  curves,
rather than the switchback roads we have seen on TV. 

The maps we picked up at the tourist offices mentioned a scenic drive through another Col (pass) on the return journey. Finding the road was a bit of a guess, but it headed in sort of the right direction. Well they didn't mention the road conditions in the blurb - it was sort of bitumen, and sort of not quite bitumen. Lovely scenery again, this time mostly forest. This took us up and through some of the logging areas - thankfully not another car on the road.

Ended up in a small town where the plan was lunch. Only one small eating place in the town so that was lunch. It advertised English fish and chips and was run by an English couple. No other choice on the menu as it is so quiet it is not worth them doing a full menu. I thought they would get most of their business during ski season but they are a bit too far from the actual ski resorts (only about 10k but that is a long way in France). Most of their business comes on the nice spring and summer days that get people out for a scenic drive, or randonneurs. Must say though, they were very nice English fish and chips.

Second scenic drive back - same issues as the first. Hard to pick the road as it was unsigned, and a couple of guesses on which way to go along the way - mind you only 2 or 3 road junctions. Again the same sort of road conditions as the previous one. No houses, no other cars, a lot of logging, and thankfully no timber jinkers. 

Griffon vultures.

A little bit misty. 

We made it back to base just in time before the rain started. They have forecast rain and storms late in the afternoon for the next few days. We had a very loud thunderstorm yesterday afternoon - Meg would not have been happy.