A month of riding from Barcelona, Spain to Toulouse, France and back again. Through Andorra, up and over the Pyrénées again and again. Beautiful scenery, quiet roads, glorious villages and wonderful wildcamps. We climbed cols, broke a bike, cheered on the riders at the Vuelta, then disaster, Tom suffers an injury that stops him riding!
Check out our website for more info on the tour: debsandtom.com
Day 1506: https://www.debsandtom.com/blog/day-1506
Day 1511: https://www.debsandtom.com/blog/day-1511
Day 1524: https://www.debsandtom.com/blog/day-1524
Day 1527: https://www.debsandtom.com/blog/day-1527
Day 1534: https://www.debsandtom.com/blog/day-1534
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Here we are in Barcelona airport unpacking the
bikes ready to set off again. Last time you saw us were in Tbilisi in Georgia and we had
to fly out of there. We hadn’t got a Chinese visa sorted. Things were getting a bit hot in
Kazakhstan. So we decided to fly to Barcelona, join a family holiday in Toulouse mid
August and then back to Barcelona to fly out again to our next destination. So
that’s the plan. Let’s see what happens. Hey, afternoon folks. Well, we’ve had
enough for the day. It’s like what 5:00 or something Debs? Bang on. 5:00.
Bang on. 5:00. We’ve had enough. We’ve picked this little woodland for a wild camp
because it’s a nice bit of shade. And check out the view. Quite hot. And now we’re going
to watch the sunset on that there mountain. Hey, morning peeps. Well, that was a nice
wild camp. Look at those mountains. Eh, leave no trace. Debs is off already.
I better get moving. Let’s go. Oh, tell you what. Nearly done it. Debs is broken. We’re flogging ourselves to
death, man up this mega steep gravel climb. Mega, mega hot. All to go and see a mountain of salt.
I hope it’s worth it. How you going, babe? I think I got a bug. A bug? She’s down.
She’s down. Nothing. No energy. No. And here it is, folks. We won’t bore you with
the 4 hours of nightmare we’ve had trying to get through this woodland to the salt mountain,
but we couldn’t do it. So, we had to go all the way around the edge back around here. We’re on
the road, but you get a little view of the salt mountain. And it’s closed today anyway cuz it’s
Monday. So, there you go. Fail. Mission failed, Debs. Yeah. That’s probably not going
to make it to YouTube either cuz it’s [___]. So, this is a lovely bit of road. We’re on the
old road. They built this new road with bridges and tunnels that they don’t let bikes on. So,
we get to ride where there’s no cars Debs. Very, very nice. And look at the view. Trouble is,
we’re ready for a wild camp and it’s all a bit steep. We want to be camping
down by the river, but we cannot. Hey well folks, we were starting to lose faith
a bit. We thought we’re never going to find anywhere. Too steep to get down to the reservoir,
but we found this gravel track. Very rough, which is always a good sign. We’ve parked
the bikes up, and I think we might just have a candidate for a top 10. Tell us
what you think. We’ve got driftwood, mountains. Big mountains. Big lake. We’ve tested
the water already and it’s nice and warm so we might even have a swim later. And best of
all, a decent breeze to keep the bugs away. Hey well, we’ve had a swim in the lake, Debs.
We’re clean. We’re fed. We’re watered. We’ve enjoyed the view. And I reckon it’s about time
for bed, don’t you? Definitely Zebedee time. Yeah. Morning, Debs. Morning, Thomas. Not a bad
place to wake up, eh? Pretty wonderful. Lovely wild camp last night. Really, really
nice. Not quite a number one cuz you had to come down quite a steep dirt road to get
here. I don’t think it’s even a top 10 to be fair. You don’t? No, because it’s
lovely and all but we’ve had as good. Well, bye-bye wonderful wild camp. Looks even better in the sun. Look.
Woohoo. But now the big push. Hey. And there we are, folks. Back on the road.
There’s the main road. There’s the water. And there’s our track. And there’s Debs. And that
kind of gravel track when you’re hunting for a wild camp is like mana from heaven. And we knew
that was going to lead somewhere good and so it did. But now we’ve got some Pyrenees to tackle
right through that Mordor gate there. Look, look at that. Proper Lord of the Rings stuff. And then
we hit the big mountains. Pyrenees, here we come. Now, here’s a bit of a bummer for us. The tunnel’s
closed. A real big one, too. So, all the traffic’s been diverted onto our lovely little detour road,
which means it’s not going to be quite like it normally is. Hey ho. Let’s go. Yeah, that was
over a kilometre long. Look, nearly a mile long. Now here’s one we can’t go around. Debs and Tom. Dot com. Whoa. There we go. Nice and easy. Very well lit.
Good on you, Spain. So well lit. And a little bit of a shoulder, too. So, we’re happy with that.
But we’d rather have the detour. Let’s go. Morning peeps. Well, it’s a sad day today because
we’re going to go across the highest pass in the Pyrenees which is a climb of about 5,000 ft and
Debs is feeling a bit rough. So, she’s going to get the bus. Here we are at the bus station in
Andorra. Debs, we don’t normally do this. It’s not right, is it? We’re not happy, are we? We’re
not happy, but I don’t know. I mean, two days ago I could barely stand. I was still cycling, but I
couldn’t stand. I fell off my bike cuz I couldn’t hold it. And I’m definitely improving, but.
It’s the right thing to do. I know. It’s the right thing to do. I know, but I don’t want
to do it. It’s all right, babe. We’ll be all right. You’ll see me on the way past. Remember to
get on the right hand side yeah. Love you. I’ll see you later. All right, let’s get up that hill.
It’s certainly steep. No idea how far I’ve come. Maybe coming up 7 or 800 feet, maybe 1,000 feet.
It’s relentless. First gear all the way. Just no rest zone. Just up, up, up and away. Let’s go.
Landscape’s starting to change a bit. Tree lines giving out to grass on the top of
the hills, so we must be getting higher. Starting to get some proper
mountains now too, look at this. This is where I split from the main road.
The main road goes through a huge tunnel, but I’m going to take it left over that last ridge. The end is in sight folks. I
think that mast up there is the top. 11k to France. We’re going the long
way around. Let’s go. Let’s go. There you go, peeps. That’s
the top. 2,408 m. Magic. Back to normality this morning, folks.
Back with Debs. Leaving this ski resort town. Can’t remember the name. And
we got 20 mile downhill. Bring it on. Well, that was a great descent, Debs.
That was fantastic. And now look what we found. A town full of thermal springs. And
there’s somewhere to rest our feet. Yeah, it’s all right. Nice and warm. Yeah, very warm. Well, we’re just coming up this
beautiful country lane. Nice big climb. Debs’ bike starts making a
funny knocking noise. What is it, Debs? I’ve actually got snapped forks. Not
really sure how it’s happened. I mean we’ve just been on a plane, had it in the bus,
had it in a lift, but there’s no damage. Look at that. Proper snapped fork. Game
over. Right down at the bottom. I mean it’s protected by the rack. The wheel’s
fine. So I have no idea what’s happened. Yay. Let’s try and make a fix with the cyclist’s
best friend. Yay. Do anything with a cable tie. So, Tom’s on busy repair and I’m holding
the bike up. Here we go with the tie wraps. What’s happened there then, Tom? I’m
just trying to stop it moving, you know. I think that’s probably good, but I’ll
give you another one just for good measure. So, what about that for Heath Robinson affair? Hopefully that’ll hold it, Debs.
We’ve got about 5 miles to nearest town. Yeah. Yeah. I will trim them off.
Well, we’ve made it rather gingerly down the hill to the train station and, they reckon
we can get the bikes on the train. So could be a winner. Within an hour, we’ve gone from disaster
to opportunity. Took 6 minutes for the train. 2 hours later folks, here we are in Toulouse. Mission accomplished Debs. Yep, in Toulouse three
days early, but we’re here. Now all we’ve got to do is find a pair of forks, which could be
the hardest part of the mission. Let’s go. Well, morning folks. Well, we found ourselves
a hotel with a garage to work on the bikes. We found a bike shop that has a Surley fork
that might fit, but Debs is obviously wanted to talk to Thorn first, but it’s the weekend,
so they’re shut at the moment. But what the bike shop did have is the king of tyres,
which is the Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour Good tyres Debs eh? Yeah. Really nice tyres.
And ours have got a little bit of life in, but you know, the treads going and you’ve got
things like this. Oh, yeah. Where the blue’s showing through. So they’re due for replacement.
So while we’re waiting for Thorn to reopen, we’re going to change four new tyres. So
let’s get on and then we’ll have a closer look at Deb’s fork and see where it’s broken.
So you never quite know until you take them off how bad they are. But look at this. Looks
alright, but then you get it deflated. Look at that. That’s really perished. Really perished.
That’s something that’s been talked about on the bike maintenance WhatsApp group and a lot of them
are saying that the Schwalbes, the wired ones, are cracking more, those purchased in
the last year or so and maybe true. Right so Tom is being the mechanic and
he is removing our emergency get us out of jail free card repair so we could ride
down the hill. Worked fine. Nothing moved. Whoops. Yeah, you can. Don’t know whether
you got that noise and that little jerk, but you can see it moving now they’ve gone.
You can see there the fracture. Look at that. Wow. That is right at the dropout, isn’t it?
Right. Let’s take the rack off and we’ll have a look at it. We’ll get photos before we
take the wheel out. We are going to put the new tyre on and strap it back up so I can
get to our holiday apartment tomorrow morning. Look at that. So, take the weight of the bike. Oh, look at that. Look at that. If you look actually where it’s cracked. No, the
surface of the crack where you can see silver, but you can also see rust. Can you see what I mean? It
doesn’t look rusted. You can see the inside of the fork there. You can see how that bit’s where it
starts to come to the. Drop out. Drop out. Like it turns vertical. The paint’s good. It’s all very
silver on the crack. So, so there you go. That’s what a broken fork is, folks. We’ll update you
what Thorn says and what we’re going to do next. Hey, morning folks. Well, there’s Debs with a
brand new fork. Oh, yeah I’ve got a brand new fork, yeah. Thanks to Thorn Cycles who we got in
contact with them and despite it being 4 years old, they sent it out to Toulouse under warranty,
and Toulouse Bikes fitted it up. So she’s back riding and we’re heading back to Barcelona. We’ve
had a nice holiday in Toulouse with the family and now we’re going back to Barcelona cuz that place
has the best connections from the airport to where we want to go. Cuz we’ve decided where we go next.
But we’re not going to tell you just yet. Bonjour. So Debs, back over the Pyrenees, and this time,
you’re not allowed to go in a bus. Hopefully not. Hopefully not. Let’s go. I’ve picked a one that’s
not quite as steep and high, but more repetitive. More repeating. So there’s more peaks, but not
quite as high. And hopefully you should get some stunning scenery. France is doing alright,
although the sun’s disappeared. Let’s go Debs. I’m not complaining about the sun
disappearing. I know, it’s a nice temperature. It gets to like mid 20s in the
day. Imagine 20s. So, it’s a lot more pleasant. So, we were riding along the greenway
and I spotted a little sign that said, camping for cyclists. Why not? Up a bit of the
hill. But here we are. This is what we’ve got. That view. Tom’s just opening. They gave
us a bottle of homemade cider. And we bought some of their homemade cheese that
they make with the cows on site and we’re camping in the barn. And they didn’t
want any money off us. Hey this is the life folks. There she is. We’ve opened the
cider. Got a cracking looking tea on to be fair. And look at that for a view. I think I
can see one very happy wife. Yep, definitely. Looks alright, doesn’t it. In the garage.
And there’s the bikes. And there’s the view. Well Debs that was a good wild camp wasn’t it?
Absolutely amazing. In the barn. Breakfast on the patio. Sunrise to die for. Wait till you
see the time lapse of that, you might have done already depending on where I put it in the
video. And now we’re off back down the rail trail. Into the mist. Into the mist. I’m glad
we didn’t camp down there though. Hey up folks. So we’ve come to see the
Fontestorbes Spring, which is a unique phenomena. The spring comes up and down about every hour, so
this is when it’s in full flow, but we waited for it to go down and we saw it come up again, didn’t
we, Debs? We did. And even I was excited. So here’s a little time lapse of it coming up with a
lovely French family from Toulouse, big shout out to you guys for letting us use the footage. Let’s
go, Debs. We got a hill to climb. I expect we do. Well Debs, nice way to end the big day at the
wild camp. It is. It is. It’s been quite a hard day. Did a big hill at the end of it.
Wasn’t expecting that. And now I’m having some tonic water without the gin. Lovely. Ice
or lemon. Lovely. Look at this for a spot. There goes another good wild camp, Debs is
putting it on iOverlander. Leave no trace. Beauty. Now we got to keep climbing on the Pyrenees.
But it looks like a lovely sunny day. But it’s Sunday and we’re a bit low
on food. So whether we’ll find a shop, time will tell. Let’s go Debs. Yeah,
let’s go. What should we do today? I think we’re going to go for a bike
ride. Getting a bit repetitive this. Well, as is my crazy route planning way,
we’ve just come down a 1,000 ft gorge just to go up a 1,000 ft gorge to get back to
pretty much near where we started. But it looks like it could be
pretty good. So, here we go. So we just spotted a little track
down off the road. There’s the road. And look what we found Debs. It’s
only like, I don’t know, 2:00 but, when you find a wild camp like this,
it’s hard to turn it down. I know. And look at that, there’s a lovely swim pool. Tom’s going swimming. Can you see him behind the bushes. Woo. Well done. It’s freezing. Well done.
That water must have special revitalizing powers because we’ve been for a
swim. Half an hour later, we decided to press on up the canyon and not camp here. So let’s go
see what else we find Debs, all fresh and clean. And tomorrow we head that way. It’s a nice morning. Not raining. We’re going up a hill.
What a way to wake up to that sunrise, here’s Debs, she’s up. I am. Morning Debs. How are you?
I’m good. I’ve done my stretches in the tent on the mat and I’m ready to ride up a big hill. Let’s
do it. Let’s do it folks. Up that hill. Woohoo. What have we got, show us our goodies. Ham. We
got ham. We got tomato. Show me that baguette. And we’ve got baguette. Oh. Now, this is
sliced in a very special manner. Basically, when Tom gets on the bike, he kicks it
with his leg. Snaps it in half. You know, look at that for a lunch spot, folks. Bring
it on. Bring it on. Let’s eat. Let’s eat. So, here’s a treat for you folks to add to
the greatest, biggest, smallest, heaviest stuff. The world’s largest solar furnace.
There it is. Not quite sure what it does, but it looks pretty sci-fi. Hey Debs, what do
you think? I think it must heat something up, but I don’t know what. There you
go. Not much sun today, though. Well, I don’t know who booked this, but
it’s raining. No good. Oh well. We got coats. We’ve got coats. That’s all
that matters. Let’s go. Bumpy bumpy. Still pretty early, but people are gathering ready
to watch the racers in the Vuelta fly up one hill, or a col, and down another. And we’re very
excited. First time we’ve seen a real Grand Tour. Seen the Tour de Yorkshire which was
pretty amazing. But this is one level above. Right, we’re on the last stage. King of the
Mountains points up for grabs and Debs is in lead but I’m on a tail. She’s got the Yorkshire
flag on. Can we do it? Bloody hell she’s on fire. Yes, photo finish. Such a bust that was. They went by so
fast. And I managed to cheer and get a smile from the Ineos drivers as well. It’s
mint. No idea. No idea who’s in the lead. Well, wow, Debs what a downhill that was. What
are the numbers on that? That was awesome. I think it’s 22 miles. 22 miles. 21.9. And. Average
17.5. 17 mph. There we go. That’s a downhill and a half. Trouble is, we’ve got to go up 2,000
feet now. Yeah. We are over the Pyrenees yet again. Back into France. We’re in Spain at the
minute, but we’re going back to France. Let’s go. Hey, so we’re on this lovely old railway now, the
old iron and coal railway I think it’s called, cuz it went to iron and coal mines. And
we’ve got this lovely fitness trail. And it looks like we might have a
little baby tunnel coming up. Debs and Tom. Dot com. That’s more like it. Slight change of plans. We were. We’ve just
crossed the Pyrenees from the French side and now we’re in Spain heading to Barcelona to get
the airport to La Paz and continue our South American journey. It’s August the 29th today. So
we were going to get there maybe 3rd of September, 4th of September, fly out to La Paz and have
spring there and head down to Patagonia for their summer. But Jim, me son Jim, decided to
run, and swim and bike, the Barcelona Ironman, which is on the 5th of October. So, a month later
than we would have flown out, and we really want to go and see him. So, what we’ve decided to
do is go back over the Pyrenees to France, go and hit some Alps, maybe even go up Mount Ventoux,
spend another month in France, come back over the Pyrenees for a third time to Barcelona, and then
fly out to La Paz maybe sort of 10th of October, which we figure should just about still give us
enough time to get down to Patagonia for summer and get that done before the autumn comes around
over there. So, there’s the change of plans. So we’ve got another month for you in the Pyrenees
and the Alps folks. Let’s go. It’s climbing. We’re on a railway. We’re going up. We’re going up.
Here we go again, folks. Over the Pyrenees a third time. 2,000 ft climb. We’ve got 500
in the bag. How’s it going Debs? It’s the mountain biking beforehand really.
Yeah, we’ve had a tough road to get here, but quarter of the way up, 3/4 to go. Soon
be halfway. And it looks like we’re going to get wet again I think looking at
that. We’re going into the clouds. Hey Debs, we did it. The Col De
Ares, back over the Pyrenees for a third time. How do you feel?
Very happy to be at this point. Worst of the rain held off for us, too. Yeah.
Yay. Yay. And look at that view. That’s worth it, I reckon. Get layered up. Get some
layers on and go downhill into France. Layered up nicely for the downhill. I
know. Let’s go down there into the mist. Hey, morning folks. Well, the sun’s come
out this morning for us. It’s nice and warm and we’re climbing up this beautiful
country lane. Just in the foothills of the Pyrenees now. We’re not crossing them again
for a while, but they’re still pretty hilly, but very beautiful. Very beautiful. See that
there? That’s a cork tree. And what they’ve done there is strip the bark to make corks. I remember
that from the first time we’re in Spain Debs. Yeah. Yeah. Look at that. Doesn’t look like the
tree will survive, but it does. Yeah. Pretty nasty though. Like being skinned alive. Look at that
one Tom. That one’s had a load taken off look. Skinned alive. All up there.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Lots of them. And it’s a form of oak tree. Quercus. Quercus suber maybe. I’ll put it up there.
There we go. Cork. Natural product. Here’s one, I imagine, a couple of
years later, starting to recover, starting to build up its bark again. Look at that.
Two, maybe just a year or more. I don’t know how long it takes to recover.
Look at those. Maybe last year, maybe the year before. And over there look, you
can see the Med. Mediterranean Sea. Perpignan. I think when we come back to Barcelona Debs we
might take the coastal route. I think so. Nice. So, we’ve climbed up a git massive hill in these
beautiful Pyrenees to see, an ancient dolmen. Not sure how old it is, but several thousand years
old I’m sure. And here it is, check it out. All right, peeps. Well, we’ve come
to see, at the bottom of this valley, a Roman aqueduct that apparently is still
functional 2,000 years later Debs. You’re going to stop here and have some
more lunch cuz you’re knackered, aren’t you? I’m knackered, too. But
for now, let’s go down the hill. And I think this is the good bit where rather than
go back over the top, I can actually go through the middle of a viaduct, which is pretty cool.
Please, please, please. Yes. Wicked. Look at that. Wow. Hey, what a treat that was. Eh,
what a treat. Fantastic. Fantastic. Bit of a change today, you’ve got me for a moment
or two. Not sure if I’ll be any good at this, but after 4 years, I should have a practice.
At least have a go. Let’s see what you can see. So, we’ve done a couple of miles,
that’s where we were last night. Hopefully, you can see it. And of course,
we’re up, because we’re in the Pyrenees. Oh, wow. This canyon’s going to be something else. We’ve lost Thomas somewhere
there behind those rocks. Give him a minute. Yay! There he goes. Hope you can see him. Just look at what’s down there. Holy smoke. I’ve never been
particularly religious, but I don’t know. I’m getting there now. Gosh, the other side, well, a
few hundred yards that along. And here’s a lesser spotted Thomas coming. I think It’s rush hour. We’ve got a camper
van. So, I’m going to pull in. Come on. Not that high. I’m turning off now. It’s kind of cool. Well, we’ve been through
a few gorges in our time. We’ve even had rock falls on us. But I got to say that
section there was one of the most dramatic, if not the most dramatic gorge we’ve
been through on our four-year trip. Cannot for the life of me remember the
name. I’m sure Tom will add it above though. And it’s got one of those endings
now where you think where the heck do I go? Well, best made plans of mice and men as
Shakespeare said or somebody. Everything was going well. We had a few fantastic
days riding and then we got this. Slightly familiar pose from Tom. We’ve
seen him laid up like this before, but in this instance, what’s wrong now,
Tom? Me back’s gone. Don’t know what’s caused it. Just went like that. Can’t
flipping move. Been stuck here for 2 days in this village. This lovely Michelle’s
restaurant. She’s given us a room upstairs, but screwed. I can’t move. So, we’re going
to get a taxi to Perpignan and get a doctor, I think, to see what I can do, cuz I’ve had a
bad back all my life, my dad gave it to me but, never been like this. Absolutely killer.
Tragic. Tragic to see all this. Look at this. That’s not how we want to be. No. Time
to go. 9:00. Yeah. Yeah. 9:00. Merci beaucoup.
1 Comment
I hope the back situation is getting better!!! I pulled the muscles in my back in March, taken me 5 months of physio to get back vaguely normal ability.
Hope yours is a quick recovery.❤