Description: If you are looking for a great holiday in France then look no further thant Les Sorbiers in the village of Bareges in the French Pyrenees. Les Sorbiers is a fine period Napoleonic building in the heart of the village, which has been sympathetically restored and modernised to the level expected of high quality family run hotels throughout the Pyrenees.
Site visited: Summer 2008 and 2009.

As seen on the blog: Cycling in France
We have been staying elsewhere in Bareges, but have enjoyed the hospitality of Rob and Rachel at …

.. the sun.
We got up early and went down to Les Sorbiers, for us to help out with the cleaning up. Only to find Rob in full control. So I ended up watching a DVD about Paris – Roubaix cycle race with Dave, well Rob made us, e.g he put it on the player.
While Peli was running around reminiscing about her days working at Les Sorbiers, so well that she ended up smashing a pot of yogurt on the floor.
 
We could only get to rent some MTB’s in …

… no gain.
Well I’m definitely a cyclist not a hiker. Bad knee yesterday and stiff legs last night and today the legs were better but still painful to walk. And when I do I look like a someone out of Monty Python’s Ministry of silly walks.
Give me a 50-60 miles ride, heck even 135 miles in one go, I’m tired after but not incapacitated.
 
So I had a sleep in, to rest my old bones for tomorrow’s mountain biking, while Peli pegged it up the Tourmalet in 1h21m and then back.
Click …

… me, to call someone something not nice.
We got up with sore legs but very keen on getting going. Peli’s really wanted to go take me over to see the Col de Spandelles and the Col de Soulor. We met up with Dave and Rob from Les Sorbiers, and headed down the Tourmalet to Luz.
The local supermarche did not have any energy bars we wanted, so we stopped in Luz. I spend 10 or so minutes walking up the aisles ummng and arring. Because they didn’t have what we wanted …

… sleeping tonight, part II.
 
We went to sleep and woke up again around 02:00, because the nature called. It would be pitch black if it was not for the clear sky and the bright stars. We could easy see around us and didn’t need light to find out way to the ‘facilities’. It was only made hard because we both were looking up at the stars and not where we were going, not an good idea when camping on a rocky shelf. We saw a very clear Milky Way, a …

… sleeping tonight?

We had a nice sleep in, because of Peli’s folks arriving late in the afternoon. And in their car would be the last bits we needed for our hike up to 2400m.

Peli’s dad gave us a lift up the La Glere, well as far as his car could take us up the gravel track. And then we started to walk up the valley.

There is a small railway line running straight into the mountain, Peli’s dad did see a little engine on it last year. But …

… shit in the forest, like the bears?

We loaded up Rob’s (from Les Sorbiers) mini bus, with our bikes plus Richard (a guest at Les Sorbiers), Pingu, Mrs Pingu, Dave, Peli and me, hmm this rings a bell, like I typed this before.

We then drove over the Tourmalet down to St Marie de Campan, where we parked the mini bus. Rob then led us up along the road to the Col D’Aspin, then turned off to do the lesser known (but very worthwhile) Horquette D’Arcizans, the first col …

… and back from Hautacam.
We set off at 9:30 with Rob (from Les Sorbiers), Richard (a guest at Les Sorbiers), Pingu, Mrs Pingu, Dave, Peli and me.
 
We had a great ride down the gorge into the head wind which were nice to know since we would be heading backup the gorge again later. We joined the Voie Verte which pretty much took us to the start of Hautacam.
 
We had a little crash, Dave not seeing Peli where she was standing, then a ginger moment. Since Peli wasn’t feeling all ok …

… on today’s ride for the others but not me.
We meet up with the Pingu’s and Dave at 09.30 and was soon off down the Tourmalet. The new tyres rolled very nice and fast, but I was a bit shy on the downhill for various reasons.
1/ It has been a few days since I last rode Chutney.2/ I’m on new tyres and not sure how they handled.3/ I didn’t want to over heat the wheels and end up with a p*nct*re.
We arrived in Luz and started to climb out of …

Description: Bicycle Sales France. Charly opens his shop doors on the roundabout in the middle of Argelès-Gazost. He is proud to offer his clients, who are enthusiastic about all types of biking, only the best.
Shop visited: Summer 2009

As seen on the blog: A good start …
My thread on my left crank arm broke, and Rob at Les Sorbiers took me down to Sport Loisirs Diffusion to see what they could do.
They did have a left crank arm in the right lenght but not the right fitting to the …