The route took me down past Foix (although I didn't stop!) but instead of turning south east toward Andorra, I forked right and southwest toward a little village called Olbier.
The satnav gave me a bit of trouble, as for some reason
it deleted Olbier and the next stop at the lake from my route, and started on
towards the mountain passes quietly ignoring the road sign that proclaimed the
pass was closed. Luckily I spotted what
it had done before going too far past my turn.
As I headed back to Olbier I was flagged down by a couple
of bikers heading for the mountains. They had spotted the sign, and assumed
(because I was heading from that direction) that I would know if this was
true. I didn't have a clue, of course,
but it turned out they were two Airbus employees from Toulouse...small world! I
explained I hadn't come over the pass, but would be going back that way later,
so could only suggest they apply my plan...try it and see. They too were just out for a ride and not too
bothered which road they ended up on - since I later found the pass to be open,
I assume they had an enjoyable day out as well (although the chap's sports bike
was going to be a handful on some bends!)
Anyway, back to Olbier - a tiny village that was
mentioned in Lonely Planet as having a ruined Templar chateaux, and since I was
in the area thought I would take a look.
It's ruined alright...if you think how the castle on the edge of the
cliff at Penne looked, this outcrop of rock was even smaller. Alas I couldn't find an open gate, so assume
the chateau is off limits, but to be honest it didn't look like much was left
to see in any case!
Auzat is an quaint little village that is the scene of
the invention of cricket. Well, perhaps
not. But it should be with that name.
Next on the list was a lake that I had spotted on the map
to the south. No reason to visit other
than it was at the end of the road (in fact, it was past the end of the road
according to my satnav, but Google Streetview showed the road went as far as
the lake!). It turned out the lake was man-made, with a large dam to the north
that the road climbs up to at 1,500m. There was still a lot of snow on the
peaks around, draining down into reservoir via dozens of little (and not so
little) waterfalls and streams.
From the reservoir, I went back down the twisty track to
Auzat, then turned left to follow the mountains.
The road headed up into the mountains on some great
twisty roads - some barely had anything marking the edge of the road in
places. I stopped at a little cafe in
the middle of nowhere that I can only assume caters for the hanggliding /
parascending enthusiasts - just before this was a peak called "Free Flight
View" or something. Lovely spot, with a little lake - reminded me very
much of Dartmoor in terms of the scrub land. The only difference was the ring
of mountains around it!
Heading on up the mountain from here, I found the pass
that had been discussed earlier. Very
much open on the approach side, despite the signs. Several nutcase cyclists on the road -
nutcase as they were cycling up a bloody mountain! All very friendly, and would wave as I
passed.
Going down the other side of the pass was more of the
same to the next town. This gave me two
options - a clear route back to the north, or my intended route over a second
pass that was also marked as closed according to the bloody sign posting. I figured I would chance it - I can turn the
bike around in the road unlike a car, and the sign for the first peak was
obviously wrong.
The climb up to this pass was even more scenic than the
previous ones, and the views from the pass itself was simple stunning -
entirely surrounded my mountain peaks, most with snow on!
Whilst I was stopped here, several cyclists were about
one of which has a GS himself (I think he was saying the GS was better for the
legs than the bicycle, if not for his fitness!)
From here it was another descent back down into more
little villages, before heading out of the valley back to Toulouse.
What I did notice in the area was a very different
architecture to what is around Toulouse.
The buildings were more grey, not surprising since the local rock was
that colour, but they were more of an alpine look with steep roofs and small
windows - which again makes sense given the snow fall they get!
Not a bad run for nearly nine hours, even if I
did forget to grab my waterbottle from the fridge. Still, plenty of little shops open. I think my biggest complaint is the seat on
the bike...it really starts to be uncomfortable!
