ABC Wednesday, K

I couldn’t find any place starting with K around me for my ABC Wednesday cycling project. So I’m using K for Kilometres instead J

I could no longer live with the failure of NOT having climbed Col de Peyresourde to the top, so last Tuesday off I went to conquer this mountain pass. I’ve done part of this climb the day I cycled to the pretty village of Garin. That day I managed a kilometre after the mark “3km to the top”, but was too tired and had to turn back.

This time I went slowly as usual taking pictures along the way. The first picture was at the start of the climb, the sign shows the climb details. From Luchon the climb is 14.5 km long, going up 944 metres. The average gradient is 6.5%. As I was taking this first photo a cyclist went past. Soon I was climbing after him, until he stopped to remove his jumper. At the village of St Aventin he overtook me and I could see him ahead of me for a while, but when I got to Garin he was long gone. This first section before Garin was the hardest for me: in some places the gradient is 10%. From the sign “3km to the top” it’s possible to see the hairpins in the distance: they look so menacing. But this final bit up the mountain is not as hard, the gradient never goes higher than 8%. And the hairpins themselves are very gentle (third picture). I was so incredibly happy to get to the top in less than 2h! 1h 58 min was all it took me J

Climbing is a new development for me, before this holiday I was always avoiding hills and now… now I’m enjoying the mountains J