Day 4 : 49.25 miles, 5:09 hours, St Béat
[ MAP ]

Woke up at three this morning to the pitter-patter of rain on my tent. A quick dash in my birthday suit was in order to retrieve my clothes hanging from a nearby tree. I had a restless sleep until my alarm went off but it was still raining. Delightful thoughts of spending a much needed rest-day inside my tent eating pistachios and doing sudoku crossed my mind as I drifted back to sleep. When I woke an hour or so later the rain had cleared.

The scenery up to the Col de la Core was gorgeous. The low, bright white cloud surrounding the road meant it was impossible to know how far the summit was. When the sun started to burn off some of the cloud, the humidity left me sweating like a fat man in a cake shop.

When I eventually reached the summit after an hour and a half of climbing it was still covered in cloud and I could barely see the road fifty metres ahead of me. I finished off a greasy sausage and half a block of camembert. One day I'm sure my arteries will thank me for that.

I descended to below the cloud level to wonderful views once more and threaded my way towards the start of the climb to Col de Portet d'Aspet. This climb was unmarked unlike others which often have mileage markers all the way to the summits. It made it difficult to judge where the climb began but I was left with no doubt after leaving the town of the same name; the road rose quickly in a series of long switchbacks to the top. It was relatively short, I could almost see the top from the bottom.

At the top I got more water from an unmarked fountain, I figure French water can't be too bad and a few exotic sounding parasites won't do much more damage to my already sorry digestive system. I'm glad I rode up the hill from the East; the downhill had sections of 17 percent grades mixed with plenty of blind corners to keep the senses sharp.

The descent didn't even pause to level out before the climb to Col de Mente started. It seemed like a long climb but it was worth it for the wicked fifteen minute downhill to St Béat. For most of the descent it was possible to see a long way ahead so it was easy to get up to 40 mile per hour speeds. At those speeds it was also a little nerve racking on each bend with my shuddering, screeching brakes leaving me with little faith.

Got a good tent spot in town next to the river and watched bats duck and dive for insects in the slowly fading light of dusk. A few other touring cyclists joined me in the campground. Andrew, an English touring cyclist, was heading along the same route as me and having as much of a struggle as me. Another young English couple were heading in the opposite direction. I felt a little guilty mentioning the 17% grades they had in store for tomorrow.

[The hills:
    6.   Col de la Core: altitude = 1395m; dénivelé = 855m; distance = 13km; grade = 6.6% average, 8% max.
    7.   Col de Portet d'Aspet: altitude = 1069m
    8.   Col de Mente: altitude = 1349m; dénivelé = 740m; distance = 11.1km; grade = 7% average, 8% max.]