Day 9 - Last time in Spain.

Written up by Tracey, though, for a change, Jeremy was keeping me from my tea.

So today the guys go back in the saddle for quite a gruelling day. They worked out that at least 18km of the journey was at 9% slope or over, taking all the ascents into acount.

The day began with a shower, after a night of rain, but then settled into dry but cloudy weather. The first climb, up Col du Portillon, was through very atmospheric misty woods. They all gathered at top, and started down, but after 100m, all had to stop to put on lots of extra clothes, as it was so cold! It was a long, cold descent, and the road was pretty dirty - Paul had to change his brake-blocks on the way down, because debris got embedded in them and started scraping the rim.

The day continued grey at they went up through Spain (for the last time), then back into France on a main road, dodging lorries - some driven very impatiently... The next climb was Col de Mente - quite tough with 9km climb at over 9% in one go, but they managed a steady pace through gradually clearing weather. This time, it was so cold at the top that despite piling on clothes again, John C and Jeremy got too cold to wait for Paul and John H. They went on down and left Sian to tell others they hadn't been deserted and that they would stop at the next Col. Since Jeremy and John C. had the food for the group, it was quite an incentive, though the other col wasn't far.

Jeremy and John C got to start of other Col de Portet d'Aspet and paid a quick visit to a memorial there that was pretty poignant for them. In 1995, a Tour de France rider was killed when he fell from his bike coming down from the Col. The road up is 4km of exceptionally steep slopes, peaking at 17%! I don't know about the guys, but I'm glad they were going up that rather than down (unlike their unfortunate predecessor), as their descent on the other side was a lot more gentle. As they reached the top of the col, they realised it was still very cold so they again decided to press on, rather than get chilled. Sian (who had caught up again) was supposed to tell John H and Paul that they would wait in a village on the other side, but she decided to have a little fun, telling the followers, "They've headed to next Col". John H. had a few very worried and hungry moments before he remembered there were no more cols to climb today!

Eventually all were reunited for a well-deserved lunch in picturesque St. Lary. Then they made a long, slow descent into St. Girons. During the day, they noticed lots of anti bear slogans (L'ours non, Death to Babu), as bears have been re-introduced into the area, having previously been hunted to extinction. The writing style seemed pretty similar each time, so the guys were speculating that it might have just been one person with a major grudge and a lot of paint. Pete and Ant rejoined the group at the end of the day, after a morning's walking and an afternoon driving the cyclist's route. It was clearly quite a slog, as Ant said, "That was a difficult drive!"

Today's statistics - 96km on the road, 2190m climbed. They've almost done 2 Everests!!

It was a good day for everyone, which is just as well, as tomorrow is another long day though with less climbing tomorrow, and the weather is due to improve.