Day 14: A foggy day in the Pyrenees

For the next two days our plan is to just enjoy the Pyrenees, the Tour has headed north, as have the large group of Aussies who were staying at our hotel. So were done with this year's Tour...unless we decide to catch the final day in Paris on Sunday.

I went for a bike ride before breakfast, varying my route a little bit and turning around in the village of Ancizan once the road started getting too steep.

We had a relaxing breakfast, and then rather than immediately leave to get a good viewing spot for the Tour, Joni went shopping and I read the paper. We loaded up the car with some hiking gear and my bike, since our plan was to go to Gavernie, a national park on the Spanish border, after returning my rental bike in nearby Saint Lary.

Our ride to Gavernie took us over two cols, L'Hourquette d'Ancizan and the Col du Tourmalet, both of which were routes in last year's Tour, and the latter was also in this year's. Pea soup fog enveloped the mountain passes, cut down on sight seeing, and made a scary drive even more treacherous. We did stop on the first col and take a lot of pictures of cows...couldn't resist. Because of the fog there were times when you couldn't see the cows, but you could hear their bells.

When we got to the top of the Tourmalet, it was amazingly sunny and we were actually looking down on the clouds with the mountains poking through. A beautiful sight.

The fog caused us to cancel our Gavernie hike, so he stopped for a "proper lunch" at the La Grange aux Marmottes, in the tiny mountain village of Viscos. We first ate there two years ago, and last year we stayed there for three days. We both agreed,"OUR BEST MEAL IN FRANCE!" Mussel soup with gruyere cheese and a pastry topping for our starter. Lamb chops with baked tomatoes and casserole with Tarbe beans and carots in a tomato sauce for our main dish. Dessert was a parfait with vanilla ice cream, blue berries, sorbet, and sponge cake. Nothing like a two hour lunch.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking and shopping around Luz Saint Saveur, a resort town close to Viscos and surrounded by mountains. For our drive home we avoided the Tourmalet and took the longer route through Lourdes, arriving back at the Hotel d'Angleterre at 7:30 pm.