Day ride in Bedous - Toulouse to Porto 2019 - CycleBlaze

July 4, 2019

Day ride in Bedous

A ride up to Lescun and hike to Lac Lahrs

What an epic day!  Where to begin?  Coffee.  Market.  Bike.  Hike.  Bike.  That pretty much sums up our day.   At this point, I am gong to have to come back to this later.  We are both famished and very hangry!

So, for now enjoy the photos and captions.

We cycled up to 15 km to Lescun and gained about 650m.  Then, we went on a 13 km hike and gained another 800m.  So,  needless to say, we’re pooped.

Okay.  I’m back.  This is not going to be a solo trip after all.  We are both well satiated and of sound mind.  

This was an incredible day and we were glad that we included this area as our first stop on the trip.

Ride up to Lescun
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Ride down from Lescun
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Good morning July 4th 2019.....
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A beautiful morning for a ride, don’t ya think?

The municipal campground, with door streamers to help keep the bugs out.
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It cost us 9 Euros a night to camp here in Bedous. We just love the municipal campgrounds in France.
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Jacquie GaudetMe too! Sadly, there weren't many in the areas I visited this year.
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4 years ago
Loads of sheep. Lots of great working border collies doing what border collies do best. Going to have to try to get a shot of one working.
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Was I ever happy to see this cafe open at 7am! I left Sue to sleep, and I went for a morning wander.
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Market day in Bedous.
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After enjoying our coffees, we took in the unexpectedly lively market for such a small town, full of  very local food artisans selling a variety of cheeses, breads, and, would you believe full size ‘cool jet’ mattresses.

We found that discovering the mattresses was sign, considering Susanna’s thermarest has sprung a very slow leak, forcing her to make  windy breaths into it in the middle of the night to inflate it.  Last night I thought it was a creature panting at our tent door.  But. No.  It was just Sue.   

Okay. Perhaps Sue is right. I do have a cheese problem. This lovely gruyere became part of our lunch today.
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The cafe from this morning. This picture was taken from my first recognizance. I later went back and returned with Sue. The cafe owner was surprised to see me back so early accompanied with a beautiful woman. I thought to myself, ‘why didn’t he that same smile when I visited the first time?’.
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After our romp around town we return to basecamp and packed a small bag for the day.  Our route took us south towards Accous and into the narrow gorge of the d’Aspe valley.  We were happy to leave the busier road and we began a stiff 6 km climb.

Sue leaving me in the dust as usual.
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As we rounded a corner and neared Lescun, a wall of towering 3000m peaks filled the sky.  We both let out gasped ‘wows’ at sheer size and beauty of this area.  

Again, dear reader I must leave editing this journal.  I promise to return and complete it later.  Today is the morning of the 5th of July and we have to get coffees, pack and begin heading west toward the coast.

Climbing to the trailhead of the hike after leaving Lescun.
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The first part of the hike was a nice gradual climb, until it wasn’t.
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This looks like phlox. What do you think?
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Bill ShaneyfeltMight be heart leaf globe daisy... at least it matches images fairly well.
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/this-heartleaved-globe-daisy-globularia-cordifolia-227786095
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4 years ago
Patrick O'HaraThanks for the research Bill. Much appreciated.
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4 years ago
Approaching Lac le Lahrs.
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Heading back.
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We picked up some hiking buddies along the way.
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Descending and tired.
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Today's ride: 30 km (19 miles)
Total: 69 km (43 miles)

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David MathersAnne and I are really looking forward to following along. More inspiration ! Now way you go and find some food for Susanna!!
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4 years ago
Patrick O'HaraHi David, I also enjoyed following along with you guys. Good advice on the food front. You both know how it is. Cheers.
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4 years ago