Sunday 12 October 2014

Pyrenees: Day 12




Pyrenees: Day 12, 7th September 2013
Airotel Pyrenees - Camping Uhaitza (83 miles)

This was a very testing journey. Having already programmed the route into the sat nav with some challenging and scenic roads in mind, the weather was proving to add to this challenge.

Although wet weather generally isn't a problem, the visibility issues this can have when riding up and over mountains is quite severe. We were forced to ride at pretty low speeds for the majority of this ride and with cyclists still making their way around these mountains we had extra things to watch out for.


With everything that had gone wrong so far this trip, emotions were starting the get the better of us. Understandably Rob was frustrated with the planned route in these weather conditions and so we ended up separating and meeting at the campsite instead. Despite the issues the weather was having, the low clouds made for some great imposing views. As Emma and I continued following the route, we ended up getting slightly lost with some of the roads causing issues and the sat nav not knowing about them. After a bit of meandering we did however end up on the right path.

We arrived at the campsite before Rob and waited in the bar area. Once he arrived we set up our tent and then rode into the nearest town, Mauleon-Soule for lunch. Rob's tent had been leaking in the midi-Pyrenees and so he decided to book a hotel for the night. The room seemed pretty nice, a large room with en-suite and we were able to leave our stuff in there to dry.


Leaving Rob at the hotel we went back and took a walk around. We hadn't really planned much to do here, although there were some gorge's to visit if we had time but due to the weather and the time it took to get here we decided against it. Back at the campsite we ended up chatting to a guy who was going to a gig that night. He was very talkative, explaining his nationality and heritage and comparing with the locals. Unfortunately I can't remember the details, but at the time it was interesting (if not a bit tiring!).

Due to the weather and the state of Rob's tent, we altered our plans slightly so that we headed straight to Santander the following day rather than camping in San Sebastian. By this point I think we just wanted to get back to the port as quickly as we could ready for the ferry home.

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