Pyrenees trip with GKV 2023

Rather than this be a blow by blow account of a week long holiday in the Pyrenees, it seems like it would be an idea to give an edited highlights of the whole thing. That being said- I'm writing this at the beginning... so have no idea quite what this will turn out like. 

Let's start at the beginning:

A post went out a while back asking if anyone from Glossop Kinder Velo (GKV) would like to go on a cycling holiday, ideally somewhere mountainous. The pyrenees was suggested, 4 of us dibbed in, and at least 3 of us are on the "no fly if possible" camp, and so a bit of logistical jiggery pokery went on. A massive hat tip has to go to Bryn for sorting out a) logistics and b) the accommodation and c) everything else really. He was the teflon grease that made the whole thing work (and yes, that is meant to be a compliment). 

Sat 17th In order to make the holiday work without flying, trains were booked a decent way in advance,but it was decided that rather than trust our entire holiday to the whims of the UK train network, we would do the UK part in a car. Bryn (who had done a 100miler on Friday) drove around picking us up on what was *technically* saturday morning, but was more like friday night, and drove down to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel. 3 bikes on the roof, 1 in the boot, along with 3 more bike bags and our luggage made for a bit of a cramped car. 

Once through the tunnel we pitched up at a carpark next to the TGV station and had a rapid disassembly of bikes and packing into bike bags, locked the car, checked it was locked at least 3 times, and then headed for the station. 

The TGV journey to Paris was very smooth, whereupon we disembarked at Gare du Nord and had a fairly frenetic Tube journey to Montparnasse Station. We only needed to take a single line, but on the Tube with bike bag and luggage and lots of people was a bit reminicent of London. We had 2 hours to make the journey, which took about 40 mins, and then sat for a short while before getting to the platform for the TGV to Lourdes. Again, relatively calm and stress free. Our bike bags (carefully measured beforehand) fitted into the luggage racks quite happily, whereas the Austrailians with bike boxes on the same train- could not. There were bikes *everywhere*. 

As the train went south (the leg from Paris to Bordeaux is insanely fast) the train got more and more empty, and we arrived in Lourdes and were greeted by Andy from AllezPyrenees who transported us and our luggage to their guest house. And an amazing house it is as well. 

Caroline had booked us into a restaurant, (where my sole regret of the holiday happened... that I didn't have the profiteroles), we got back, built up the bikes, listened to the rain and thunder and planned for our first day of riding. 

Sun 18th 

Yes, it was raining and thundering when we arrived in Bagnieres de Bigorre, but that didn't put us off plans for rides. The most important thing was that today was Riccardo's birthday and he wanted to do the Tourmalet. Of course he did. It's literally just up the road from where we were staying. After a breakfast with VAST amounts of coffee we saddled up and headed off. The sun was out, though we still decided to take some wet weather gear. The forecast was all over the place. Normally it is very stable at this time of year, but the weather models were really not coping with the complex amount of stuff that was kicking around in the area. 

Up the Tourmalet... 3 words. Let's just say it took quite a long time. The views were spectacular, the road was excellent, the top was brutal. 5 degrees and raining. EVERYTHING went on and I didn't hang around (to be honest, I didn't even see the gift shop/refuge thing). In order to get warm I figured the best thing to do was to keep cycling, so I went back down to find the last member of the team and would cycle up with them. Seemed like a plan- and by the time we got to the top it was still cold and wet, and we could see people in this structure above the road. There wasn't a lot in it, but it was a place out of the rain and wind. 

Bryn on a moody (and cold) Tourmalet

A short team talk, and enough time to buy a buff each to kind of try to keep warm on the way down, and we went down. The other side. 

18k of wet and windy roads. Soaked feet, cold hands, drenched to the bone. I was cursing my decision to leave the mudguards at home. After looking through the food options in Luz Saint Saveur (the place next to intersport was not, shall we say, welcoming), we stopped in a small cafe and had Pizza to warm up. Steve went off to buy more clothing and Riccardo fixed a puncture. We stayed there, dripping, for quite a while, trying to get warm as the rain bounced off the road and pavement outside. 

Refuel!

Eventually the rain (kind of) slackened off, and we headed off up the hill again. A few growls of thunder made me a little nervous (steel bike +lightning probably isn't the greatest and most intelligent thing to do), however, as we climbed, the weather became better, layers came off, and by the time we hit the brutal final kilometre, it was a fully beautiful day- what a contrast! More photos were taken- which looked a little less atmospheric this time, as the sun was out, before we descended back to home for a well deserved dry off and out for food. 

Look how different the weather is this time!

Monday 19th 

So, having vaguely dried out from yesterday's epic up tourmalet, it was decided that we'd have a bash at the Hautacam today. To say it is a climb with a bit of a reputation is somewhat underplaying it. So many brutal moments of the Tour de France have played out here- so why not have a bash? 

After an excellent breakfast (it goes without saying really), we took a very pretty back road route across to the next valley, picked up an excellent cycle way - flat and beautifully tarmacked, and flew down the valley. The weather, again was a bit changeable, but considering the length and distance of the climb, layers were stripped. 

It's a beautiful climb, but the middle few kilometres are fairly unforgiving. You can't really see the top of the hill either, so I didn't manage to get any photos of it.... the signs also lie. The "top" of the climb is a massive carpark... but the road continues up for another kilometre or so. I wondered whether to stop at the "top" or carry on... well... if there is more road, you might as well cycle it.... so I carried on to the top top. 

This was very much an out and back day, but we continued north into Lourdes for a minor sightseeing bit through the town. Couldn't find a cafe, so had an impromptu lunch from a supermarche, and then got refused entry into the huge church that is the main "bit" of Lourdes. I can't imagine why. 

Food in the evening was provided by our hosts who proved that they REALLY know how to cook. 

Tuesday 20th 

Luz Ardidens was the aim for the day. A beautiful climb with a ridiculous number of hair pins near the top. It was a warm day which just got hotter. The same route to the next valley over provided us with a nice little warm up, and then we cruised down to the base of the climb, taking in a short coffee stop on the way. The climb starts out.... oh who am I kidding? I can't remember the bottom of the climb, they're all starting to mulch into one. What I *do* remember are the incredible swooshy hairpins closer to the top, the heat, and the ski station. 

Bryn on the hairpins at Luz

Fantastic. What made it better was the fact we took a slightly lesser used route on the way back down that was a little, um... gravelly, which suited me just fine. (We set out from the top a little after a *very* fast Slovenian guy who shot off down the main route, we took it fairly gently down the other way, and were calmly standing around taking off gilets etc on the main road at the bottom as he came pelting past us with a somewhat puzzled look on his face). 

A gentle ride back was punctuated by quite a shower which fortuitously arrived just as we stopped for lunch at a snack truck. Good timing.

Wednesday 21st

Wed was a long day, and we decided to ask Andy for a lift over the hill to cut out the first part of the day. The climb up the Soulor was excellent fun. I had the bit between my teeth, and really nailed it up the climb. Again, it was somewhat damp, but hey, we're used to worse. 

Thunder still rolled sporadically, but the main danger on the climb was a cow that basically refused to move. (it was still there when I went back down 10 mins later), and a bunch of horses that were cavorting all over the road. After the obligatory photo and sticker stop we went along the truely delightful road that connects the Soulier to the Aubisque where we had lunch.

The cow that wouldn't mooooooove.

There *was* an idea to descend and then turn back around and do the Aubisque from the other side, but we had other fish to fry. The Cauterets/Cambasque. A climb that is in this years tour for the first time ever. So post lunch, we wrapped up for the descent back to where we came from, went down the same valley for the third time in 3 days, and searched out the route to the Cauterets. 

Ok. So we've been going for a few days now, and this is not the first climb of the day, but it was long and fairly brutal. Some ramps were quite tough going, but the final kilometre to the ski resort is a lot less work, and absolutely beautiful.

 On the way back I decided to take a bit of a detour to pick up some more Veloviewer squares. Some of the back roads are MUCH harder than the big name climbs- if only for their gradient, not their length. If you head out this way, there is a lot of fun to be had away from the main climbs.

Random church on the long way home

Thursday 22nd 

Final day of cycling and bums were getting sore. A short day at 70k, but still 2 cols. The Hourquettes, first, which is a beautiful climb through a couple of magnificent valleys.

Hourquette gravel

When we were there they had been road dressing, and they appear to have been taking leafs out of Derbyshire county councils notebook. Loose gravel for about 3km. I was quite happy on my steel gravel bike- the others on their carbon road bikes, not so much. 

Up, over and a decent descent, followed by the longest wait for 2 pizzas ever, and a final climb up the Col d'aspin. Sun blazing, amazing weather- what a way to finish a holiday, followed by a very very quick blast back into Bagneres on the tail of Bryn who was putting out some serious watts.

 

Friday23rd 

Early up- the bikes had already been packed away the night before, and then a return to the train station (via a wonderful boulangerie to pick up lunch), train to Paris, a slightly frenetic trip back across the Paris tube network, and then train to Calais, find the car, head to the eurotunnel terminal and a drive back up the M20 and M1 to get home at 2am. 

Quite a holiday. 

Thanks so much to Andy and Caroline at allezpyrenees. They were amazing hosts, have fantastic knowledge about the area, are great cooks and provide such excellent add-on value to the holiday that I can't even express it here. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending their services to anyone. They are *that* good. 

There you go, it wasn't so bad was it? Just a taste of what it was like.... It was excellent.

15 trigs 2023- 50b450

 Lets address the title first. Yes, this is indeed the 15 trigs- the same thing I did with Chris in 2019, and back in 2011 with Andy, Jules and Dan, but this time it's different. 

Lynne has mentioned over the past few years- since at least before lockdown- that she wanted to give it a go- either as a full one time effort, but walking rather than running, or as a 2 day challenge with a camp in the middle. So as part of her 50 things to do before 50 project, that has been going on this year, one of her things was the 15 trigs. 

To be honest, I thought this was *quite* ambitious, but still pretty do-able. In the past few months she has been getting out and recce-ing various sections of it and was due to do it next weekend with a friend. Next weekend though, I'm not going to be around to help if necessary, and also the weather might end up crapping out. Doing the 15 trigs as a walk is going to be hard enough as it is- doing it in the rain would be horrendous- or it might not happen. I happened to have a day where no-one had booked in this week and so suggested that we might as well get on and do it this week anyway, that way we'd get to have a long walk together, I could help without being external "support"- ie. with a car. 

She called up the person that was meant to be doing it with her next week and got the blessing to do it early with me, we spent half a day working out what we needed, Lynne wrote up a quick 24 hour schedule and 15 mins after my final appointment of the day at 1645, we set off. 

This was going to be a little different to the other times I have done this route. The 2 main differences were that we were doing it as a walk rather than a run, and that it would include an overnight portion. 

Off we set, and took off up Cock hill, bagging the first trig in short order, being careful not to go too fast up the hill. Lynnes 24 hour schedule had an average of 4kmph, so going much faster than that would have been nice, but you don't want to blow up too early. Walking sticks were out- might as well make it as easy as we can as early as we can. The idea of eating every half hour or so was also there- not too much, but just a few mouthfuls. In anticipation of this, we had bought a LOAD of food with us, but not just your standard sweet stuff and energy bars. There were sausages, porkpies, sandwiches, apples etc. so quite a lot of choice. 

Cock hill

Across in the late afternoon sun towards Dog Rock and upward to Shelf stones. It was quite warm, but there was a fair old breeze blowing from the East. Cool, but not chilly, and by the time we were at Higher Shelf trig we were already a sizeable chunk up on Lynnes Schedule. Useful. I was fairly sure we'd get around in under 24 hours, but by how much, I wasn't sure. A brief photo stop at the trig (getting a snap at every trig was one of my primary jobs), and off we went, West, past Overexposed, the B29 wreck, down into Herne Clough and onward. 

Higher Shelf Stones

We took a diagonal line up to the top just before Miry clough and up towards Alport- which stays hidden for a long time, until it pops into view only about 200m in front of you. Still very much daylight here- we were indeed making good time as we dropped down from Birchen hat, muching away on various snacks and discussing the various route choices ahead of us- and looking at the horizon, realising just how far away Back Tor trig looks to be. 

Alport

Down to the boring walk to Kings Tree and across to Slippery Stones, maintaining the "mobile picnic" attitude, but it seemed like I might be getting a blister on my left heel, so just before the ascent towards Outer Edge, I stopped (in a place out of the wind... but, it seems where the midges congregate), and put on a compeed that had been fortuitously placed in my kit only about 6 hours previously. I haven't used compeed in years, but was very glad of the foresight that led to it being packed. 

Outer Edge

Up to Outer Edge as the sun was setting (behind a cloud, so no amazing photos) and back along the boundary path, which was really quite dry and free from immense bog monsters towards Cut Gate and Margery hill. It was this part, and the bit to Emlin that were playing on my mind. You don't want to fall in a bog at the beginning of the night section where it is going to be colder, it sets you up badly. The nav across Emlin was going to be a bit grim in terms of heather bashing- and I've neved done it in the dark, so that was a concern as well.... however, we got to Margery Hill while it was still twighlight, so the first of the worrisome bits was nicely done without head torches. 

Margery Hill

Now for a long leg, the reverse of the "new" HPM route down and across the moor to the slabs and then south for the "in and back" of Back tor. Head torches on heads, but not yet on, we made our way down the moor, crossing peat dams and into the grough proper where a variety of semi-trods ended up becoming "the" trod that I knew. The wind was blowing in from the East and it was getting time to turn my warm layer inside out from "breathable" to "windproof"- but I figured I'd do that at Back tor. 

We hit the flags, which were very white indeed and reflected what light there still was in the sky, and so despite the dark we scuttled across the flagstones without headtorches, successfully getting to Back tor Trig just as it was pronounced "ok.... its proper dark now". 

Back Tor

We sheltered in the lee of the stones for a bite to eat, sort kit etc. and headed back to the path where it became apparent that it was a) dark and b) a whole lot colder. Despite wearing a primaloft layer and having primaloft mitts I was cold. Either I'm getting more sensitive to cold, my primaloft stuff is a bit old and isn't quite up to muster, or we were moving at a speed that was a little slower than I'm used to and I wasn't able to keep my core temperature up. 

It was about to be the section to Emlin which was playing on both of our minds - so we worked back down the flagstones to the little lumpy bit where Emlin is about ENE in a line, where my poles got put away, the BIG torch came out, as did the compass, and we set about navigating across to the trig. Now, this isn't all that much of a deal, but there are no decent lines here, the ground isn't all that forgiving and it is quite a broad hill with not a lot of features. Essentially, its a 3k dead reckoning bearing. There were a couple of lights in the distance that we could use as markers, and after quite a while stumbling across various bits of heathery moorland the short uphill to the trig finally appeared and we bashed on up to the top. Emlin- great. 

Emlin

The getting off was a bit of a challenge as I totally missed the very easy line off and took Lynne down a much worse line through heather and burnt vegetation. Oops. We got off though, and had a coffee from the flask I was carrying to celebrate. 

Lynne had been here to recce just a couple of weeks ago, so she took over the directional orders from here. There seem to be a few different ways to get from here to Rod Moor and over to the Sportsman. She knew what she was doing, and I just let her get on with it. The main thing to note about this route was that I lost a bloody waterbottle on this section. No idea where it was, but it was between Gibralter rocks and Rod Moor. Very annoying, and has done nothing to reverse my dislike of this section. 

Rod Moor

By the time we got to the Sportsman it was something like 3am, so unsurprisingly, it was shut. They do have an outside tap, which Lynne had asked if we could use, should we get there at some point when they were closed, which they didn't have a problem with. We had still been moving well at this point, eating up the miles in a slow and steady way, though I was still not warming up- so swapped my old, somewhat threadbare Berghaus primaloft layer with Lynnes less battered Inov8 one, along with a waterproof over the top, hopefully this would improve things. 

The Sportsman (closed at 3am)

A short stop to organise some food, top up water, and make sure everything was ok, and off we went up the road toward Stanage. By the time we had passed Redmires it was becoming daylight, we took off headtorches as we passed Stanage Pole, and it was full daylight as we reached High Neb. Lynne acquitted herself well with the small scramble down off Stanage, but by the time we got to the carpark I was getting a bit of a hot spot on my other heel, so a short faff ensued while compeed was applied. 

High Neb

The next road section was fairly tedious, and as we got towards Yorkshire bridge the inevitable conversation about "if we had a support vehicle here, or if we'd have left the van here with extra water in it, would we have just caved in here?". The answer was that it was good not to have any other option than to just keep on going as the temptation to stop here would probably have been too great. Especially with Parkin clough a mere 100 metres further on. 

Up we went- the most brutal climb in terms of height gain vs distance travelled in the whole thing, but less than 30 mins later we were at Winhill trig point surveying everything we had done, as well as looking toward Kinder and thinking "well, it isn't far to go now". 

Winhill

Still the wind kept battering us- but this time from behind, so at least it was "helping" us along, though it didn't feel like it. Down to Hope Cross, and then the slog up to Kinder and through some fairly dry bog to Kinder East (1957) trig. From here is a long leg over to Brown Knoll, and the distance and time on feet was starting to tell. 

1957

The pace along the south edge was slowing a bit, my shoes were filling up with dead bits of heather (I thought there was a bit of a stone in my shoe, so took it off and was semi-surprised to find nearly the entire shoe was full of heather). The rocks and stones of the southern edge are not conducive to speedy travel, even though there are sections of flagstones and it seemed like it took an age to reach Brown knoll. 

Brown Knoll

Now it was a significant proportion into the morning, people were on the hill, and the wind was getting up- a significant breeze from the East- our right- was making it quite difficult to walk well, especially with our levels of fatigue. I still wasn't warm, despite the sun coming out, and was only just holding off being a bit shivery. Up onto Kinder and Kinder Low trig, followed by the long and indeterminable walk around the edge to Kinder Downfall. 

Kinder Low

I was beginning to fade quite a bit by here. Up until now I was the one trying to buoy up the mood, making sure that we were eating and drinking etc. but by now, the wind was really taking its toll. Head down and keep walking, check up on Lynne every so often to make sure we were in touch with each other and nav was good. Out to Sandy heys trig, and now only one left to get.

Sandy Heys

The journey off Kinder corner was torturous, and the leg to Harry Hut was pretty much the slowest that we did. Sun beating down, so theoretically warm, but with a strong wind blowing, so actually kind of cold. Still trying to eat and move but with a really strong sensation of just wanting to sleep. There were a couple of moments where I caught myself dozing off midstride- but not far to go now. 

As we approached Harry hut my watch buzzed- I looked and it told me I had an appointment coming up in 30 mins. No. What? Hallucination? Apparently not. Someone had somehow managed to book an appointment on our online booking form despite it being blocked out for the entire day. How on earth? No idea, but the priority to was to call them and somehow make sense while talking to them in a severely sleep deprived state. But... not enough signal to get a coherent conversation... so on the way up to Harry Hut I was there trying to type a message while dodging holes and heather and hold it all together while trying not to fall asleep. Great fun.

Harry Hut

I sent the message as we hit the trig- took the obligatory photo- and noticed there was a note under a rock on the trig, but thought nothing of it. As it turns out, it was a note left for Lynne by the person she was going to do it with in a couple of weeks congratulating us on the round- she had been following our progress on GPS the whole way around... but it was just a note and I had no thought or inkling that it might possibly be for us! (how British... don't want to pry into other peoples letters....)

What followed was pretty much a sleepwalk off the hill down to Derbyshire level. Our targets were getting smaller and smaller. Instead of "just need to get to that trig", it was now down to "just get to that road", "just get to that tree" etc. 

Derbyshire level took a while... it was still hot/butcold/buthot. Sleep deprivation was high on the list of "not goods", and although getting home was a bit of a blur, it did not go fast. 

Finally we got to the door- 91kilometres in about 20 hours 15 mins. We had done it!

Neither of us in a good state- but remembered to turn off the garmin and save the activity, followed by a really bad shivering fit, a brief shower and I think I was literally asleep AS my head touched the pillow.

I'm so impressed with Lynne for her ability to keep going through this challenge, despite her doubts and misgivings. I never thought that we wouldn't get around, but had no idea about what kind of time we would do it in. It was never meant to be a run, but more of a "just get around" round. Our speed never really dipped much below 4kmph, so the early slightly faster kilometres certainly helped with the overall time being less than 24 hours. 

As for me- having done this before, I was surprised at how beaten up I was at the end and how much I needed to dig into my reserves for the last few hours. It appears to be an indication that yes, the distance is indeed a factor for me, but not nearly so much as the amount of time awake. I'm certainly not going to rush to do something else where I need to be awake and alert for anything like 24 hours- 17 or so is my limit for peak awareness, ability and enjoyment. Beyond that it becomes a death march. And although I know I can do that, there is no pleasure to be derived from it. 

Despite doing this in the midst of summer, I spent much of this being cold. Something to do with not moving fast enough to keep me warm? Maybe I rely too much on the ability to move to burn energy to keep me warm, rather than actually carrying enough to keep me warm? Interesting, and something to look into and be aware of. 

Still, now all is said and done, all is grand. We finished, Lynne has another one ticked off and I was glad to be of help in completing it.