Nick had signed up to do a bike ride in the Baronies, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, this weekend, so we used it as a good excuse for a trip in the camper, the first of the year. Thursday was spent cleaning the camper, inside and out, and loading it with provisions and bikes, then on Friday we were off.

Our first stop was in Lourdes, to ride the voie verte, a cycle track built on the old railway line, which weaves its way through woodland and meadows from Lourdes to Pierrefitte Nestalas, 20km into the hills. A stop for hot chocolate in the village and back on the bikes to go back to Lourdes, then we headed for Bagnerres de Bigorre for the night.

On Saturday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, it was time to go to the start of the ride, 10km away in Bersac Dessus, on the plain that borders the Baronnies. The weather was perfect, just warm enough, with occassional sunny spells, as over 1000 riders gathered, including quite a few from the Nogaro club. There was a bandas band playing as they set off, a few km on the flat before they attacked the climbs and descents of the Baronnies. Nick did the longest of the four routes, at 89km, with about 2500m of climbing and said he went better than he’d expected.

I went for a walk through some of the local villages; rarely have I seen such a concentration of huge old houses, tucked behind massive gates, usually set in beautiful gardens.  Between the villages were fields of wild flowers, and the ditches on either side of the roads were more like streams, with the mountain melt water rushing along them.

Back at the salle des fetes in the late afternoon, the cyclists began to arrive. The tombola was drawn and huge quantities of sandwiches, cakes, dried fruit, orange juice, water and coffee appeared, very much appreciated by everyone who’d done the ride.

We made our way back to the camper and hot soup, then home, already planning our next trip away.