Back into France

23 - 24 July
We enjoyed returning into France, although quickly noticed that some essentials like coffe and ice creams were much more expensive. We continued our tour through the Pyrenees, now heading east as we wanted to explore the cols that we did not see in our last tour of France three years ago. We drove the Col de Marie Blanque (1035m), and on to a campsite at the start of the Col dÁubisque. At least camping in France was cheaper than Spain, and this was the most delightful campsite we experienced on our whole tour. It was grassy, expansive and had wonderful views of the surrounding mountains.
Next day we were disappointed to see the mountains above us were foggy, but we needn´t have despaired. As we climbed higher up the Col d´Aubisque (1709m) we rose above the clouds into wonderful alpine scenery. Both these cols are famous ones used in the Tour de France. For a change it was horses with bells grazing at the top - very photogenic!
We drove on to our final goal in the Pyrenees - the westward climb up the Col de Tourmalet which we had ridden up from the other side three years ago. Lots of cyclists were riding this famous col - some looked really knackered.