This is the top of the climb. Noting Leigh's comment earlier about culture, we were so tired and cold by the time we got here that we put warm tops on, had our posterity photo taken and headed straight back down. We stopped for lunch at Cauterets I was so cold that at lunch I had a glass of red wine to try and warm up. Have never ever previously drunk alcohol whilst on a ride. The waiters were so frazzled because there was a large group of 10 if us that orderin...

A very picturesque waterfall about 3K from the top. From the left it is Mick Gannon, Chris Burgess and Dave Curtain. I had chased these guys up for about 3K and caught them just as they stopped at this point. I realized later that they were all riding on their triple chain rings.

It is Bastille Day and this is entertainment in Cauterets. This is also where we had lunch after completing the climb.

Quite a different day to yesterday. Low cloud and bordering on cold. It is at this point that the day started to go awry. The start of the climb was 500 metres from here but the Etape du Tour was on that day and the rode up to Col de l'Abisque was closed for that ride. The Etape is the Alpine Classic ( the hardest one day ride on Victoria) on steroids. The course is the hardest day of Le Tour set aside for thousands of recreational cyclists. The we're riding t...