Col du Tourmalet

We left Gavarnie early to get down the narrow road before all the visitors started coming up.

It was quite dramatic with the cloud below us.

We got down easily and then were heading up towards Col du Tourmalet before 9am. This was good as there was a string of cyclists making their way up.

The road was very good - just uphill with quite a few hairpin bends, cliff edges and no barriers. After a while there are no trees so you can see a long way. The cows and sheep were still freely wandering around.

We stopped in the large carpark up the top and checked out the souvenir shop - which has a museum to the Tour de France that we didn’t go to.

We took quite a few photos at the top of the stunning views. An elderly cyclist asked Glenn to take a photo of him at the top - he told us was 83 years old - he looked pretty amazing!

We had a coffee at the little cafe across the road with views down the mountain. A lot of cyclists joined us, looking happy and tired.

We then started heading down the other side through the ski resort - lots of people are staying there in the summer.

Getting down into the foothills went through lots of little villages. One interesting village had made life size mannequins- perhaps of themselves- with maybe one family thinking they are the royal family!

We saw nice places along the way.

We arrived in the town of Les Cabannes just south of Foix and stayed in the aire overnight.

The town is right beside some massive Pyrenees mountains. The Chateau Gudenes round the corner has been bought and being renovated by a West Australian couple. They offer tours and stays there to help finance their renovation. There is a trout fish farm on the river.

We liked a very organised and productive vegetable garden on the street.

We had a nice quiet night with about 7 other vans there - all French or Spanish. We haven’t seen any other English speaking vans for some time. Where are they all?