This was the first “mountain” day of the tour and off the Tour de France Femmes route. It was epic and a real treat in many ways. It was also a sticker day. Leaving St. Lary Soulan, a nice little town.
The road turned up quickly after town.
It was blissfully foggy.
But as we climbed past the first village we soon left the fog up grassy switchbacks.
Was this cross grim foreshadowing? We didn’t care as the views were amazeballs.
We knew this was a real climb when we started to see the words of past Tours. There were some signs too.
We were duly warned about Canadians but kept going.
After a bit there were no trees and we were heading straight for the top. We could see the pass ahead and ski areas behind.
I was a little weepy after planting the sticker on the first major col, and Ada gave me a nice hug. Ada Xinxo is great.
They were paragliding up a gravel road nearby. There’s tons of space up at the top here and there was even a little food stand with lots of tractor parking.
Shortly after we hit “MooMoo Meadows” as my daughter called it. Such happy cows.
We basically went up and across two ridges instead of following a valley. The roads go over low points on the ridge so farmers can get their herds to the next pasture.
The top of Peyresourde was somewhat cozy and had signage galore.
Why was it cozy? It had a crepe barn! It had a crepe man and his daughter!
He also made these traditional wood games and insisted on me taking a photo of them. He also wanted me to play but I dodged it. I wished I would have bought one!
Other mountain days might be taller, tougher and mightier, but this was the most beautiful. It also had crepes, which would get Serena’s approval.
The Pangolin Posse in the World 