Top of the Pyrenees

Today is reported to be the hardest and most beautiful ride of the week. After breakfast, we are transported 1hr45mins to the start of the Pyrenees mountains that straddle France and Spain. On the way, we see pilgrims with their backpacks on the Camano de Santiago pilgrimage trail, as well as the tell-tale shell looking signs that designate the trail.

When we arrive out our bike staging point, it is obvious we have left the Rioja region, as we are now in forest, cloudy overcast skies and a bit of a chill. The first part the 50k is uphill, which sounded worse than it was. Of course, with our ebikes it is never terrible, but we generally don’t kick it into high gear unless we need to. The scenery looked very much like the Olympic National forest, with extreme greens, babbling brooks and waterfalls and generally no noise except the birds and the water. Our trip leader Max, had said this was his favorite ride and now we know why! It looks just like Washington (his home as well as ours).

Donna and I stopped a few places to take pictures and were steady all the way

up to the top, where the rest of the group was taking pictures as we were now at the top of the Pyrenees, so perfect photo op! Now, it was downhill for the next 20k to the pig farm and we had been warned there were points that were quite steep…and those warnings were true!

The three of us started down, but Ken quickly left us to cruise with a bit more speed. Donna, also pulled in front of me, as I was cranking down the gears to keep me at a nice 16k per hour pace. Soon we were looking at some significant drop-offs with farms, sheep and cows wayyyyyy at the bottom. The road was very narrow and windy, and luckily there were very few cars as there wasn’t much leeway on

the ledge.

Donna and I got to the Spain/French border, where Tim was waiting in the van and advised that we were quite far behind and that the next 5k to the pig farm was even more steep. So, I opted for the van to the pig farm, while Donna soldiered on! Once at the farm, the others were just leaving but we took a few minutes to see the very odd floppy-eared pigs with their cute little babies. They were huge and their ears covered their eyes, which makes them look very different than regular pigs, but all enjoying the mud.

We had about another 15k to the restaurant, so off we went on the gently sloped road that we could make some really good time on. I made it up to 40k per hour and Donna was not far behind, so we made up some minutes. 5k from the restaurant there was a

round-about and Christian was there with the van in case we wanted a boost. I was good to finish up, but Donna took advantage and took the boost.

I made up some good time and pulled in right behind the rest of the crowd and actually beat Donna and the van! We had a wonderful lunch, with fresh salad, wine (we were done riding for the day), French fries, fresh trout from the local stream and some awesome gelato. Now it was time to head to our next hotel, Auberge Ostape with the van, high in Basque countryside and overlooking the mountains, with sheep, goats and the now familiar white stucco houses and red roofs (typical Basque).

As we headed up to the hotel, we were very glad we weren’t riding as the 2k up was extremely steep and even would have been a bit

tough with the ebike! We were met at the gate to the 42 acre property and each room was given a golf cart, which was definitely needed to get from the gate to our rooms and then up to the reception/restaurant! We had been warned that a tree had fallen last night on some lines and that the internet was down. So, the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, taking a little nap, reading and seeing the incredible views in every direction. We felt like we were at the top of the world!

The evening activity started with local wine, cheese and ham on the patio with a local Basque guy who gave us a tutorial on Basque culture, traditions and misconceptions. He was quite animated and

passionate, which made it fun to listen to and learn. After the talk, we enjoyed a great dinner with our cycle mates before taking our golf carts back to our suite, with no sounds other than crickets and wind.