Lateralus

There's a roundabout in Nottingham where people change lanes without indicating probably 50% of the time. Berated Mrs Lat for doing it once, resolving the ensuing argument by reference to Google earth!

They were supporting Tool when I saw them a few years ago. Liked them, but not quite enough to look them out since.

Having been a bit cold on a winter ride to Sportsbikeshop, I impulsively bought the EDZ Windproof Neckwarmer for £14 while I was there. It's mostly windproof fleece, with a small breathable bit of fleece over the nose and mouth area. It's reasonably long, widening out at the base, making it easy to tuck into your jacket. It does the job brilliantly. Easy to arrange without any air gaps, and is properly windproof. Made a huge difference to my winter riding, helping keep me perfectly warm even on long motorway slogs in very cold weather. Would definitely recommend.

In need of a cheap bag for the excessive luggage I planned to take on my recent tour, but needing also to pinch some pennies, I splurged a whole £10 on the QBag Waterproof Roll Bag 3. I didn't expect greatness from it, and took a couple of bin bags to line it, just in case. The way I saw it, I just wanted it to last this one trip, and anything further would be a bonus. It's a single compartment 50 litre bag, closed with a zip with those rubber bits over the teeth, which is itself covered with a flap held down with velcro. The inside is lined, and the seams are taped. There are no handles at all on the outside, which is just weird, and makes it very cumbersome and annoying to carry when full. But then again, it was only a tenner. There are a number of loops for threading the webbing straps through for attaching it to the bike, but the two straps provided are a single length each, with a single plastic tag thing to double it back though. Didn't seem very convincing, and not wholly sure how I'd have used them to attach it to my bike, but then again it was only a tenner. I used rok straps for my trip, which were very good - separate review to follow (eventually, probably). After 2k miles of touring and one Forum Rally, one of the strapping loops is fraying slightly at the edge, but there's no other signs of wear. To my surprise, it remained waterproof through 4 hours of riding in clouds and rain, whereas the cheap navy surplus goretex trousers I had on didn't. For a tenner, I'm massively impressed. I think I'd possibly spend a bit more and get a lomo or Oxford bag next time, mainly so that I didn't have to unthread and rethread the straps each time I took the bag on or off, but this one certainly did the job I asked of it.

The ones I bought ended up leaking a little at the crotch. Not what you want!

*reads Six's previous post on thread* *re-reads current post with suspicion* *doesn't insert meme of Fry looking suspiciously at something* Yes, it was great. I've had it suggested that riding abroad can take the shine off riding in the UK, and I can see why they might be the case! The Pyrenees were amazing, but I'm glad I rode through other areas of France too, and reading the other threads here about trips to other bits of Europe makes me want to see it all.

That the number for your next trip by any chance? How do you arrange navigation, leading etc for a group that size on a tour? A further thought I've had for future trips is that it might be nice to use a single base for 2 or 3 nights of exploring an area, without all the luggage attached. To be fair I'm not sure the luggage made much difference to my enjoyment of the riding itself, but it would be nice to have less faff in the mornings and evenings. Imagine it would be all the more advantageous if camping.

I'm very much a social person, and was surprised that I didn't really feel lonely at any point when touring on my own. Was great to have people to drink with on the ferry down, but after that the days were long enough that the evenings went by quickly. Still, with the right one or two people I definitely think it would be a great shared experience. Not given up getting Mrs Lat on a bike, but it would be a long time coming, and having her wanting to go touring too would be another battle all on its own! I've enjoyed writing it up too, although the first few posts where I had more to talk about and all evening to write it were probably better! Following the above, I think it was also my way of vicariously sharing the experience.

In total I covered 1,897 miles during my 12 day trip, 7 of which were riding/traveling days, and day trips with Mrs Lat on a couple of the other days too. This apparently took me 46.5 hours on the bike, at an average speed of 44mph, and economy of 49.1mpg. You may not have wanted to know that information, but now you do. It was my first proper tour, and I wouldn't have expected to be doing it solo, but I had a great time. On reflection, 200 miles a day for the 2 days spent wholly in the mountains is about the most I'd want to do for that type of riding, and I expect it might be too much if riding with others when stops inevitably take longer and might be more frequent. On average for the full-day rides, I think they were shown to be up to about 7 hours driving on Google maps, and I'd normally be out for about 11 hours, including all stops. That's not something I'd want to do for many more days than I did without something of a proper rest. 150 miles a day in the mountains might be more sustainable for me on a longer tour. The long-distance days on the motorways were, unsurprisingly, more tedious, and if/when I go to the Pyrenees again I'd be sorely tempted to get a return ferry to Santander or Bilbao. Riding destinations nearer the UK would be fine, but I genuinely enjoyed the ferry down, and I think it can be done relatively cheaply when booked early enough. I'd definitely like to tour with others, but think a big group could get unwieldy for long fare. Would be interested to know what others think about optimum group size? In terms of my kit (will try to do better individual writeups on the proper place in due course): Satnav - Tomtom Urban Rider - borrowed rather than bought, and 90% fine. There was one day when the usb connection for charging was being temperamental, so it died mid-afternoon. The lack of lifetime map updates was a pain, with several major roads not shown, and the petrol station locations unreliable at best. However, when it worked, it was good, and I'd definitely consider buying a dedicated motorbike one in the future. Was very grateful to have it. £10 waterproof bag - well, for a tenner you certainly can't complain. Remained watertight during my long afternoon riding in the cloud and rain, and stayed secure on the bike. No carry handles, which is odd, and the strap loops were too small for the rok straps, so I had to rethread the buckle each time I took the bag on or off the bike, which was very irritating. It came with its own webbing straps, but they didn't look trustworthy. Did the trick, but think I'll buy a better one for next time. Rok straps - bought following a brief positive review from [mention]Mawsley[/mention], and they're brilliant. Easy to fit (bag loop sizing aside ), solid on the bike. Helmet - HJC IS Max 2 - having never really needed ventilation much before, it turns out this helmet's top vent is more just a noise switch. When open, it was much louder, but without any discernable cooling effect whatsoever. The chin vent was better, insofar as it didn't make any more noise when open, but there was also no apparent airflow increase. I only really overheated when sat stationary in the sun, but if buying a helmet for touring abroad I'd look for one with better ventilation. Jacket - Spada mesh thing, bought second hand. Would have really suffered without a mesh jacket. When really hot it was most comfortable with a long-sleeved synthetic base layer top underneath. Short sleeves were actually less comfortable, and I found both Merino and cotton tops to be a little too warm. Boots - surprisingly my leather/goretex alpinestar touring boots were never really too hot, and remained comfortable all day. Jeans - Held Hoover Kevlar jeans - have a soft cotton lining in parts, as well as the Kevlar panels, and were also very nice to wear all day. Gloves - some Richa mesh things I picked up in a sale, with leather palms and a massive plastic knuckle guard. Did a great job of keeping my hands cool, but the internal seams meant they weren't great for wearing all day. Definitely felt like a cheapish glove in that regard. Eagle Creek packing cubes - these things are bloody fantastic. Can get loads of clothes in them, and of you don't have pannier bags they make packing very neat and easy. We use them all the time when traveling, regardless of mode of transport. Aldi magnetic tank bag - only cost £30, but very impressed. Can fit in a lot of stuff, with both the transparent map pocket and cable port proving useful. Waterproof cover and to work too. Might get a smaller option too, but was really useful having a few bits and bobs readily to hand, and having all the important documents in a bag I could easily remove when asking for lunch etc. Bike - Triumph Tiger Sport - doubled my mileage on this bike over the course of my trip, and loved it. Never skipped a beat, did everything I asked of it, and used a fair amount of the tyres' width even when loaded up. Was even beginning to think the pegs might start scraping at some point, but have no idea how far I may have been from that actually happening. All riding was loaded with either luggage or a pillion The bike was fun in the twisties, comfortable enough on the motorways, and got significantly more attention on the continent than I'd been expecting. Obviously it's in the best colour, but I think people were just interested to see something other than a GS or RT touring in the mountains!

My accommodation didn't include breakfast, and since it had not long stopped raining, the excuse of needing to find food somewhere let the roads dry out too. In stark contrast to 12 hours before, I was virtually the only person at the harbour in the morning. With only an 80 minute ride and 2 hours to do it in, I meandered my way through the last blob of green on my way: the Boucles de la Seine Normande Natural Regional Park. With yet more perfectly pleasant riding conditions, there weren't many points quite interesting enough to stop for a photo, but I very much enjoyed riding over the Pont de Brotonne. I love me a good bridge. Following some minor issues with the satnav not including a new road which had been built, I successfully got to Dieppe in good time for the half 12 sailing. The boat was less glamorous than the previous one to Santander, but did the job, and the seas were once more dead flat. After arriving at Newhaven, my personal nomination for “Shittest Entry Point to the UK 2017”, I started the long slog back up to Nottingham. The weather was lovely, the roads were fairly quiet (for the most part), but the ferry timing meant that motorways were the only option for getting home that day.

Well then, it turns out France is big. Who knew? I had a lot of ground to cover on Saturday, so I made my way to towards Angouleme and got on the motorway until a little south of Tours. I then headed west along the Loire valley, through the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Natural Regional Park. No specific destination in mind, but it's coloured green on Google maps so I thought it would make a nice alternative to spending all day on the motorway. Turns out I was right. The scenery and the roads weren't spectacular, but they were very nice indeed. Nothing sufficiently impressive to make me pull over and take a picture, but it was a lovely place to be riding a bike. At lunchtime I found myself in Chinon, having ridden up a road lined with some huge trees to get into the town. I wasn't able to stop and take a photo, so this one from Google maps will have to do. If anyone knows the variety I'd be curious to know. They were really tall. Like, massive. Parked up in the town square and had a spectacular salad. It was probably 50% bacon, and included goats cheese and figs. I know this sub-forum is about riding, but you need to eat while on long rides, and this is worth sharing. The new benchmark for salads. Back on the road, and Saumur provided the first photo op of the day. There were lots of attractive buildings on the way into the town, and in the villages beforehand, but this château overlooking the river won the prize. From here I headed north, skirted around the west of Le Mans, and through the Normandie-Maine Natural Regional Park. Again, it was green on the map and roughly along my route, so I just plotted a course to take me through it. Similarly to before, very pleasant scenery indeed. The roads were very nice to ride, with very little in the way of traffic, and consistently decent single-carriageways for the whole afternoon. I also noticed that the further north I got through Normandy, the more attractive the buildings and villages seemed to become, peaking finally with Honfleur. Whilst we visited a few lovely towns and villages during the week with relatives, and had a great day in Bordeaux (taking the new extra high speed TGV to get there ), the time I spent touring on my own was deliberately focused on the countryside and the riding itself, but Honfleur was lovely. It was also heavingly busy, with all of the many, many restaurants full. Nevertheless, I managed to find somewhere for moules frites on the harbourside, which was my primary objective for the evening. The accommodation was a bit rubbish, but stumbling across a free gospel choir concert in the church was a nice way to end the evening!

2 big days, and I'm home! Saturday Sunday Final write ups and thoughts to follow, but far fewer pictures from the last couple of days. Been an amazing trip - need to figure out how to fit another one in next year!

Honfleur

Yeah, but he's trying to drill it out, so it'll need to be in reverse.

Feel free to input your own! Plotted it for the satnav on www.motogoloco.com, but my mobile just tracks my location. If it's not really active it draws straight lines between spots which are fairly spread out, as per today's trip out: However, if connected to my headset and in Android Auto mode, and/or being used for navigating, it tracks with full accuracy. You can now go even further, and share your location with specified people in real time. As I've been traveling on my own, I'd turned this feature on to share my location with Mrs Lat, but for the duration of this trip only! It means that when she goes into Google maps, on her phone or online if logged in, then there's an icon with my location. She's turned it on for her phone too - this is how it shows: I have a friend who's wife wants this feature turned on at all times on his phone. He leaves the phone at home/in the hotel on nights out...

And so to Saturday, the final day of full-on bike touring for a week. To be honest, I started the day without quite the same level of enthusiasm as I'd managed previously, with the previous afternoon putting a dampener on things, and then waking up to find out was still raining. Ho hum. I packed up all my things and loaded up the bike, before having a coffee with the father of the person who's Airbnb I was allegedly staying at. Fair to say they won't be getting a glowing review. I mean, the rest of the family were nice enough, but the place just didn't seem set up properly for guests, and communication beforehand was almost non-existent. At some point building the furniture, you surely have to accept the fact that you need to read the instructions? That said, the location near to town was great, and there was somewhere under cover and out of sight to park the bike, so it wasn't all bad. Particularly as it saved my pride and joy from sitting out in the rain all night. So, dressed once more in all my waterproof gear, I set off again. Notwithstanding the rain, after probably only 2 minutes on the bike my spirits had begun to rise, as I made my way out of town and towards the N20, A66 and A61 which were to take me today to and past Toulouse. This was helped further by putting on music once I was on the motorways, and then all my metaphorical clouds lifted as the actual clouds stopped depositing themselves on me after only about half an hour. Woo and yay! The temperature was still much fresher than I'd been used to, so I kept the waterproof stuff on until my first stop at the Aire du Frontonnais Nord, some hour and 40 north of my starting point. I topped up the bike (€1.50 a litre! ), parked up and stripped off my outer layers. Treated myself to a mid-morning brunch of a pizza from the Paul outlet in the service station, and sat outside enjoying the sun for half an hour. The French probably consider Paul to be their version of Gregg's, but by our standards the food is lovely - I think I've seen them in the UK too. A couple turned up on a Harley, towing a trailer, so I asked for a picture and had a quick chat. It just looks wrong. Apparently, other than needing to keep speeds down, it was perfectly easy to ride with! Also noticed from where I'd been sitting that my bike was attracting much more attention than is normally the case back home, possibly because they don't see so many Triumphs over here. I'd seen a few Explorers and a couple of the 800 Tigers, but no other models that I'd noticed. Dressed up in all its touring gear, in the bestest colour with the matching panniers, it is a handsome beast though. But enough of that - I had another hour of motorways to ride before reaching the southern end of the Causses du Quercy Natural Regional Park, and what I hoped to be some more scenic twisties again. I wasn't disappointed. Pretty much straight from where the countryside started I found myself on tree-lined roads through open farmland... The sky! It's blue again! ...with views of hilltop villages and churches... Ooooooh, isn't it nice? ...from which there were more great views to be had. Not just the mountains which are nice to look at! A little further up the road and I found myself in Vaylats, where it was time for another coffee stop. It's a very pretty little village, with lots of stone buildings, and hosting both a convent and a nice little church. Don't like Church, but I do like churches. Continued north towards the Lot valley, riding through lots of lovely scenery. Appears I didn't take quite so many pictures of “Bike in Scenery” today. And finding a viewpoint giving the first views of the valley. I know you're missing them. However, after a few more bends I came out facing Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, which was an unexpected sight. They do know how to make them pretty out here. Photographs taken, awkward turning manoeuvre completed, I headed off down the valley, which continued to be as fun to ride and scenic to look at as I'd hoped. Was really having to resist more photo stops. These balcony roads with their sharp drops were sometimes a little unnerving. I then looped north and west on the A802, which was the straightest road I'd been on for a while, and spoiled only slightly by the sinuous climb from the valley having recently been resurfaced with loose chippings. I finally turned north again, headed towards Rocamadour and my next planned stop. Look at it, being all Disney n'shit. Lemon on top, mango underneath, since you ask. But of a tourist trap, but then again I am a tourist. I would have loved to stay longer and explore, but I'm buggered if I'm climbing all those stairs to the top in my biking gear in that heat, and I resisted the urge to go souvenir shopping in the many, many shops. So, after a refreshing break, it was back on the bike, and onto the winner of today's Road Of The Day prize: the D673. Fast, flowing corners, little traffic, excellent views. I was having a whale of a time. I then followed another balcony road along the Dordogne River for a bit, where I had my final photo stop of the day. Hope no car needs this passing place while I'm here! A final fuel stop, then back on the motorway for the last dash to Feuillade, Mrs Lat and the relatives we're staying with. This motorway was the A89, which appeared to be relatively new, and twisted through yet more wooded scenery. No photos, obviously, but even the motorways out here somehow contrive to be much nicer than we have at home. At 300 miles it's the longest day I've done, and I was out for 11 hours, including stops. I could have made it quicker with more motorways, but that would be missing the point, and I was very glad to get back to some good riding on sunny roads.

Much like this post has turned out, Friday was very much a tale of two halves. Next up after lunch was the Col de Peyresourde. The clouds had continued blowing in, and by the time I started the climb it was looking even more threatening. Still some blue sky ahead... ...but unfortunately the wind was blowing from behind. Still, the road was excellent, with a few fast sweeping bends on the way up. The road down the other side was pretty great too. A good cyclist will get up to some scary speeds going down these hills. From here I diverted away from the ADAC map, and headed up the D51D to the Port de Bales. This road wasn't even shown on the maps, let alone highlighted as a great one for motorbikes, but it featured in this year's Tour and I wanted to see what it was like. Unfortunately, that wasn't really possible, as the top of it was in a cloud. Literally. The road was almost single-track, with pretty steep drops off to the side, and lots of cow shit everywhere from the roaming livestock. Combine that with visibility of no more than 20m, and it's just about the worst possible riding conditions. Following advice from my ferry friends, I put all the waterproofs on as soon as I saw that riding into the cloud was inevitable, and was very glad I did. Having tip-toed down from the cloud, I found a nice rock to sit on and compose myself again. Was about due a food and drink stop anyway, but that wasn't an experience I wanted to repeat again in a hurry. Oh look, a red motorbike on a hairpin bend. Even had it been dry, the road would have been too small for spirited riding (see what I mean?), but that wasn't why I'd taken this particular route anyway. Still, it was a great shame that the conditions were what they were. From here I returned to the ADAC map's recommendations, with the D44 linking me up to the D618, and between them taking in the Col de Menté, Col de Portet-d'Aspet and Col de Port. Col-tastic. Just look at that potential! Unfortunately, right as I reached that first set of hairpin bends, the clouds returned, this time to stay. Somewhere scenic to stop and put on all my waterproofs again :/ The entire remainder of the day was spent in a cloud, or in the rain underneath it. Took the shine right off my day, especially given my earlier-expressed desire to not repeat this type of riding. The cowshit also returned, meaning it's now splattered on my bike. Fairly terrifying to ride on too, when you can't see it that far in advance and can't swerve out of the way. This previously-posted photo was from when I stopped to clean off my helmet and glasses. It's the last one I took while riding that day. At this point I was about as miserable as the weather. Cue more frustrated tip-toeing down the mountain, and very timid riding indeed until I was clear of the cloud itself. All the more annoying is that the A618 had the potential to be one of the best roads of the trip, but despite my increasing confidence in the wet grip of my PR4s I didn't want to push my luck, and it was just about getting to Foix at this point. Just pick a point along this bit of the route and look at street-view. Just means I'll have to go back again I guess! The AirBNB accommodation was fairly pants, but it was in a great location, and I had an excellent meal out to make up for the rest of the afternoon.

So then. Friday. It was a big day, in more ways than one. Firstly, I covered about 200 miles, all on mountain roads, some of which were smaller than perhaps ideal! Google was more accepting of today's route Leaving from Argeles-Gazost I headed towards the bottom of the Col de Tourmalet, but in fewer than 10 miles, I was forced to stop and take some photographs. Didn't really have a choice did I? I mean, how could I ignore it? Heading up the Col itself and there were hundreds of cyclists doing the same and, impressively, even a few coming down already. As a (perhaps now lapsed) cyclist myself, I've always wanted to ride one of the big Tour de France Cols, so I felt a little guilty to finally find myself going up one on a motorbike, overtaking the cyclists at 90kph! Turns out that a lot of my photos include the bike. Not all of them though. Roads can be surprisingly photogenic too However, not long down the far side, the skies started looking more ominous. Hmmm. Next up was the Col d'Aspin, which was a very different ascent through wooded slopes. Still very popular with the cyclists though, more than one of whom asked to swap. You're having a giggle mate. Was busy at the top, and the cloud was starting to roll over too, so I didn't hang around for too long. The cloud is literally touching the pass. Look Mum, I made it! However, I did have to stay long enough to photograph the descent on the other side. The roads looked amazing! Woohoos ahead. Lunch was taken by a lovely little river, under what we can all agree is a very tasteful umbrella. Shortly after this was taken, while I popped back to my bike for something, the wind blew the whole table over, chucking my can of coke over the wall onto the riverside. Don't tell me you wouldn't like one on your garden The people sitting next to me helped pick it all up, and were very amused by me clambering over the wall to rescue my unopened drink. To be continued...

Well it's been a long day, but a good one. Nearly 300 miles covered in total, taking in just about every type of road! Whilst very different to the high Pyrenees, some of the scenery has been equally spectacular in its own way. Ridiculous, isn't it? Dramatic wooded valleys, dramatic wooded valleys everywhere. Will hopefully write up the last two days tomorrow, otherwise we're moving rapidly towards unannotated picture territory.

Hadn't heard about that before. Sad times. She said it was the first time she's heard anyone actually use the safety word. Thanks for dropping her at the airport afterwards though.

This morning. This afternoon. It's been a mixed day. More to come later* when I'm feeling more eloquent. *Later might be over the weekend.

Pyrenees for next year's really? Good job I'm traveling on my own really - I'd never do the write ups as I went otherwise, and if I did them later it would probably be “Yeah I went away, here's the photos. It was good.”

I like Puscifer rather a lot. Humbling River was the first song I heard. https://youtu.be/O0YxeTjFn70 Some of their other stuff is great too, but the lyrics and subject matter can be somewhat choice.

Scottoiler still working, mystery oil leak still coming from somewhere. Couldn't bring myself to remove the front sprocket cover this evening, but will look under there again tomorrow. It's a very slow leak, and the oil level was ok, but might top it up a bit in the morning. Any idea how much one might normally put in when topping up? Think it was in the bottom half of the acceptable range on the dipstick. That said, with the mileage I'm doing, it's great to not have to worry about the chain. Turned the Scottoiler rate down to compensate for the heat, but fairly sure the leak isn't just fling from the chain, especially as it was present on Sunday before there was even any oil being put on the chain.

So then. I've now had beer, eaten, and had beer. In that order. Throughout the day I've had all sorts of thoughts and observations I was sure I was going to remember for my write up, but I'm fairly sure I've now forgotten almost all of them. First one is that once you're near the mountains, you'd have to be really unlucky to not be on an awesome biking road. I've mostly followed routes from a motorbiking-specific map very kindly provided by [mention]Gerontious[/mention], but even where I deviated slightly from its suggestions the roads were great. Look at it, all shiny and red. I was on twisties straight from the front door this morning, but the NA-140 in particular was brilliant. I'm mean, just look at it. And this bit of it. Then there's the NA-176. And the A-1205. To be honest, I was just going to post a screenshot of my Google timeline from the day as being a great route, but it seems to have taken exception to where I stopped for fuel and coffee this morning and gone into a sulk for the remainder of the day. Petulant Google This is the actual route I followed. The one bit not highlighted for motorbikes on the map I had was this bit of the NA-176 from the NA-137 to Anso, I think because the surface was pretty poor in the second half of it. However, it was here that I found myself following behind a very low black kite for a good while, which was awesome, and as you can see it's still a very nice place to be. Don't you listen to that nasty map, you're pretty to me Other wildlife highlights from the day included eagles, cyclists and a vulture. The vulture was still flying, but I presume on the lookout for cyclists who haven't upskilled sufficiently for the descents and had taken the direct route to the bottom. At lunchtime I found myself in Bailo, which was lovely, but almost entirely shut. The only bar wasn't doing food, and the only bakery made only one product, which was a massive loaf of excellent-looking bread. It's just the kind of place some smug food hero meeja-type hipster would make a TV programme about. However, it wasn't what I needed right then, so I ended up having beef jerky and a bag of crisps in the town square, followed by an underwhelming ice cream from the bar. I was perfectly happy. The next item of note was the first part of the A-1205. It has recently been resurfaced, and is like a bloody race track. I mean, the tarmac is perfect, and it had white lines at the edge but no centre line. You can see for a good while through the bends, and I passed one car and one cyclist in about 10 miles. Those miles passed rather swiftly, and I neglected completely to stop and take a photo. Between Jaca and Sabiñánigo there's a shiny new dual carriageway, or the option I took which is the old N-330 which runs parallel. On this straight road I discovered that there's nothing quite so nice as getting a breeze to go behind the knee pads in your jeans, which at this point were rather warm. I think it was in the mid-high 30s by now. This breeze was achieved by putting my boots up on the engine bars, and angling the bottom of my jeans just so. Bliss. From here I head north, towards France and the first properly high passes. See them mountains? That's where we're headed. Along with altitude also came some lakes. You've seen this lake before There was also more traffic on the A-136, and a higher than normal proportion of motorbikes. Of these motorbikes, it's safe to say that BMW in general and the GS in particular are close to having a monopoly. However, almost without exception they all waved, which here is a casual, almost insouciant, lifting or pointing out of the left hand. The biking equivalent of a gallic shrug. I immediately adopted this approach over the usual nods, but appreciate that pointing to the outside of the road would somewhat diminish the effect if I tried to import it back to the UK, and there's a reason we don't regularly go lifting our right hands. Onwards, upwards, towards the Col du Portalet and into France. The view north at the border Lots of traffic, relatively speaking, until I made it to the bottom of the Col d'Aubisque. This is one of the big ones which features regularly in the grand cycling tours. As well as being a great route, the cycling means that the authorities see to it that the road surface is impeccable, to the benefit of all. Man, that looks tough! As you'd expect from such a big climb, it was tiring, so I had to stop on the way up for a coffee and a sandwich. That jerky and ice cream was never going to see me through. The view from the bar may have helped too. Let me know if you're getting bored of these. The view from the top wasn't bad either. I mean, there's rather a lot of them. It was almost all downhill from here, but luckily for me that's literally downhill rather than figuratively. And some of that descent was rather impressive. And you might be getting scenic-picture-fatigue by now. And the views keep coming. I've heard that's a thing. And so, finally, to Argeles-Gazost and my hotel room. I was definitely in need of a shower, and have (only figuratively, I promise) joined [mention]Stu[/mention] in his appreciation of the benefits of a hotel room over a campsite. However, having stepped out onto the balcony (dressed by this time, I should point out), it turns out the day had one view left in it. With a sigh, I turned around to grab my phone once again. In fact, I think I might have it. As well as being all pretty and shit, that pass in the background is the route to the Col de Tourmalet, which is another major cycling Col and first up on the agenda for tomorrow. It turns out there's now some kind of concert going on in the square right outside my room, on the stage shown in the foreground of that picture. At the moment, it's fine, but if it carries on a moment past the point at which I decide I want to go to sleep, someone's going to be in trouble. And by someone, I mean me, what with it being their town and all. Best have another beer then.