Col d'Agnes

The steady misty rain has eased somewhat, so we took a chance and headed out to ride the Col d'Agnes from the Massat side.  We are joined with our long time friend, Bob Hooton who flew in from Florence for a short stay. A big surprise for Dave and I when we go home yesterday from a ride, didn't expect that!

Dave woke yesterday with a sore throat so chose not to ride, instead plotting me a route to do, once the temperature warmed up a little and the mist lifted.  We drove down the valley to slightly warmer temperatures and I headed off, across tiny country isolated roads, over high ridges with views on either side, all the while Dave drove ahead of me.  It was simply stunning

Our destination for lunch was a little town next to the Grotte du Mas d'Azil.  It was quite intimidating riding through, fast flowing river rushing down the rocks right next to the road, it was loud and dark.  
I had a front light on, which shone a small beam ahead as the road curled around several big bends as it made its way through.  That was pretty cool..

Lunch was lovely, but light drizzle started again, so I didn't ride back.

This morning, low clouds hung over the hills that surround our accommodation, but time is short here, so we just had to take a gamble and head out.  Bob wanted to ride Col d'Angus, so we load the routes onto our units and head out, keen but rugged up.  It was 9 degrees.  
The climb started early in our ride so we were soon stripping off our jackets.  Col d'Angus is 17km long, starting in the town of Massat and is steady as it makes its way up towards a high mountain pass.  It has been used in the Tour de' France some years ago and near the top where its' steep, paint markings still remain on the road.

High isolated villages dot the surrounding hills, seemingly miles from no where.  

We leave the tree canopy as the road snakes it way, bend after bend, to open up onto a high Alpine plateau, with the mountain peaks above still in the clouds.  Its beautiful.  Another 4.5 km to go to the saddle and the finish of the climb.  We pass an Alpine lake with crystal clear water, but don't stay around, its cold, and keep moving as the gradient creeps up a little but we can see the pass now, in clouds.

 





For those of you who are not familiar with the cycling gear, when you have to decend in the cold, you rug up and by that I mean, put on leg warmers, your jacket, finger gloves etc.  You get the gist.  So it's cold at the top and we all pull over for a quick photo and get our gear on.  For a women, leg warmers is just like putting on a pair of stockings, but for a guy, they're quite fiddly.  This picture tells a a thousand stories...

I'm done, dressed and ready to go, its freezing, while these two are still .....


The clouds really lower themselves and we are in a whiteout riding the 12km or so down.  Road is wet, we take it slow, fingers and toes are frozen at the bottom.  We find a little restaurant open and have two coffees each.  We make it home, dodging the rain.





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