Mountains and Itchy Eye's

Day 4 dawned sunny and peaceful up in the mountains of the Pyrenees in France. Breakfast was a quick golf cart ride up the steep little path to the restaurant and we were the second couple there, behind Sharon and Rob, from Santa Fe, NM. We scanned the buffet breakfast and quickly gravitated to the fresh OJ machine, that Ken decided we need to get for home. I went for the quiche and Basque torte, both unhealthy but yummy and heck, we were riding all day…so go for it. Our coffee cups were as big as cereal bowls and I had to ask if they were truly for coffee, and the answer was a puzzled “yes?”.

Donna had decided to do a break today, so Ken and I joined the rest of the group for the Route Rap and the quick boost down the hill to a local bakery parking lot. Our bikes were ready to roll and we had a regular option or the long option. We wanted to do the afternoon ride, so went for the regular which was still about 40k and ended at our lunch spot.

While Max had talked up the ride from yesterday, Ken loved this ride which was on rolling hills, through farm land with cows, chickens, sheep and farm houses and farmers tending to their daily routine. It was truly beautiful and we bonjoured the animals and people as we pedaled past.

We use Garmin gps’s that were pre-programmed for each leg of the trip and would notify us if we were “off course”. At one point in the

morning, Justin, our riding colleague from Austin missed a turn, thought he was following our riders, when in fact he was following 4 Spaniards. He chased them down, and in the process went so far off course that he couldn’t figure out how to get back to where the rest of us were. Tim, went after him, but couldn’t locate him and finally Justin called and with help from the locals who spoke no English, helped him identify where he was for the van to come pick him up.

While Justin was bonding with the local village, the rest of us were either up in the hills or down in the hills, depending on which route you chose. At the decision point, Christian was there with the van and fresh French pastries from the bakery, which we couldn’t pass

up. Again, we are wearing it off right??? We made it to the lunch spot, along with Justin and the rest of the crowd for a wonderful lunch of salad, duck or fish and amazing cheese and desert. The restaurant was full of local workers who were on break and enjoying their break with amazing food.

Most of the group were going on for the afternoon ride, which was more of the same rolling hills, but it ended quite quickly (15k) with the van was picking us up for the last 5k up the steep hill to the hotel. We all joked that we hadn’t had time to wear lunch off, but agreed that last hill was more than any of us wanted. Except for! Steve and Amy who decided they wanted to still take a go at it. Amy used Ken’s bike and decided that was a great decision due to the steep grade.

During the morning I had some allergy flare ups due to the massive green cut grass, and by the time we were at lunch, I was in full

sneezing and itchy red-eye mode. I made it on the short ride back to the pickup point, but ended up getting some meds from Tim and when we arrived at our room, I was done for the afternoon. I hate feeling fuzzy but, that was my mode for the next several hours.

Our evening was a shuttle to another part of the mountains, and we arrived at an equally high level but opposite where our hotel was…in the mountains. The views were again amazing as we made our way to our seats in the local restaurant. The wine started to flow (which helped my fuzziness) and in walked some local Basque singers who serenaded us with songs that were typical of the area. They were great singers and we all enjoyed the “aye, aye, aye’s” as well as the wonderful harmony.

The dinner was (as usual) good, fresh, simple ingredients with the surprising highlight…the French fries!! (appropriate for France!). We headed back to the hotel, where Ken, Donna and I enjoyed one evening glass of wine on her patio before finishing a wonderful Basque day.