Pyrenees weekend - Col du Soulor, Col d'Aubisque & Col du Tourmalet

Two days of Tour de France mountains - Col du Soulor, Col d’Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet.
Last weekend of September.
One day to get there, 2 days cycling, one day to get back.

Travel:

Eurostar London to Paris – The bike is an extra £25/30€ each way on the train. Take your bike as early as you can before your train, it will be sent on one when they are ready, probably not your one, and hopefully it will be waiting there for you at the other end. In Paris Gare du Nord, follow the long path which runs alongside Platform 1, all the way along, out into the open air, carry on a bit further, just after the car exit gate, and collection/drop-off is on your left.

Transit – Cycle from Gare du Nord to Gare Montparnasse (5-6km). Most direct route takes you via Rue de Richelieu, straight through the Louvre. Montparnasse station entrance is behind the tower, you’ll have to carry your bike up the steps to the TGV platforms.

TGV Paris to Lourdes – There are 2 or 3 direct trains per day, you have to book your bike on (for an extra 10-15€) at the time you make your booking, separately for both ways. Can book via SNCF website, or by telephone. Train takes 6 hours. It’s non-stop from Paris to Bordeaux, then stops several times between there and Lourdes. Bikes go in the non-reserved seats section of one carriage, it’s a bit of a pain as your bike will block at least 3 of the 4 flip-down seats along the window, which, if the train is busy, means some people won’t have seats, but that’s why you have to pre-book the space. Alternatively, on the way back, I found an empty, and rack-less,luggage cubicle in the 1st class corridor; remove the front wheel and cable lock it, and the bike, to the padded bar behind (see the pic below). You can probably get two bikes in this way. On the return train, Lourdes is already a few stops down on the route, so even more reason to find the 1st class luggage space, otherwise you might have to dislodge seated passengers, who may or may not be happy to give up their seats for a bike.

Accommodation/Base Camp:

Lourdes is a hilly catholic town. There’s a continuous drip-feed of religious tourists, even off season. Due to all the pilgrims it has the second highest number of hotels per sq km after Paris, so as long as it’s not a religious holiday you’re pretty much sure of somewhere to stay. Some hotels have places to store bikes (we stayed at The Majestic, they have a locked room for bikes next to the reception), and some can even arrange to drive you and your bikes to the mountains. Bars and restaurants along Rue de la Grotte and Place Marcadal.

The Bikes:

50/34 compact chainset, 12-30 cassette (10-speed), low enough for the uphill, spun out on the downhill; mini saddle bag with spare tube, levers and multi-tool; double water bottles and mini-pump on the frame; small bar bag for phone, camera and snacks (and for storing arm and leg warmers). One on clip-less pedals, one not. Both bikes bought off here originally.

The Cycling:

Day 1: Soulor/Aubisque – There’s a designated cycle lane that takes you the 13km/18km from Lourdes to the start of the mountains. Take this for 12-13km to Argeles-Gazost, then switch to the road, head west and start climbing. Once you are on the main road through the mountains it’s hard to get lost as there’s only one way to go, and regular signs telling you how far you are from the top. It’s a 17km climb up to Col du Soulor, and it gets steeper for the last 7km or so, but the views just get better and better all the way up. There’s a bar and a restaurant at the top of Col du Soulor, open supposedly until the end of September. The next bit, down and up from Col du Soulor to Col d’Aubisque, is just amazing, cut into the side of the mountain. Beautiful road, incredible views. There’s another bar and restaurant at the top of Col d’Aubisque, open until the end of October. Nice 15km downhill to Eaux-Bonnes, then a little way after that we turned off onto D240 to bypass Laruns and stay on the smaller roads. Nice flat ride all the way down to Louvie-Juzon, with a possible chance of getting blocked by herded sheep, then pleasant enough heading back east to Igon, after which the last 20km back to Lourdes is a bit of a slog on main roads.

Day 2: Tourmalet – Cycle lane again out of Lourdes, this time stay on it to Soulom, 17-18km, exit it at the roundabout just before the there. Through Soulom, cross two rivers, then after the second crossing and a roundabout, the climb starts. Give or take a few little downhills and flat stretches along the way, it’s pretty much uphill for more than 30km to the summit. First 10km or so of this is along the river through a gorge, going higher and higher above the river, then turn left and head east after Luz-Saint-Saveur. After that it just keeps on getting steeper all the way up. Views are wonderful again, and likewise just get better and better the higher you get. About 10km after Luz-Saint-Saveur they’ve built a smooth new road with multiple switchbacks. The original route, now renamed the Voie Laurent Fignon, is a turning off to the right. Cars are only allowed another km or so along here, then it’s cyclists only until it rejoins the new road about 4km later. The road here hasn’t been maintained much, and it’s peppered with sheep shit, but the view is amazing, and there’s no cars so it’s even more amazing. When it rejoins the main road, there’s a steep, winding 4-5km to the top. Restaurants at the top are open summer and winter I think as it’s a ski resort too. We were going to carry on down the other side and loop back to Lourdes again, but having come up the Laurent Fignon route, we wanted to do the switchbacks on the descent, so we bombed back down the way we’d come up.

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Pictures:

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Wow, that's a long way to go for 2 days riding! But what good riding it is - looks like you had perfect weather too. Didn't realise those huge bikes were on the Aubisque year round (had only seen them when we were there for the Tour a couple of years ago).

You can fly there, there's an airport about 10km from Lourdes, plus you can rent spangly carbon bikes from several places, but that all seemed too much like a corporate power sport weekend....

And yes, we were very lucky with the weather, absolutely perfect.

Stunning! Corporate schmorporate, I'm still having nightmares about BA and broken bike boxes. 70 quid return with RyanAir... Damn that's tempting!

Thanks for the write-up.

A few more useful tidbits:

If you prebook your bike on the Eurostar, it goes on your train- you can check when you drop it off. When you arrive and get off the train make a beeline straight to the bike carriage (Its in the middle, look for the loading buggy). If you're quick enough you'll find someone offloading the bikes. Hand over your receipt and take your bike right on the platform, no need to trudge over to the depot.

The trip across town between Paris Gare du Nord and Montparnasse takes about 35-40 minutes at an easy pace, and the route avoids the heroic roundabouts of death. The black tower at Montparnasse is the only tall building in Paris proper, so good for navigation when you get over the river. The station is under it.

The bike carriage on the TGV's are usually at the very front or the rear or the train, next to first class. The fold-down seats are the ones people head to if the train is full. So best to get on when the train is announced if you think it's going to be busy. Otherwise the carriage is usually quiet, with some space to stretch out. You sit with the bike, so no need to unload everything.

There is a UK number for buying TGV tickets, and they happily speak English. It's best to check online then buy the tickets by phone to confirm there is space for the bike reservation.