The day started with Gavin tripping over his bottom lip because his SAT Nav was not working, Apparently waterproof does not mean it can get wet. He was obviously upset so Richard and Rob did their best not to make him cry.
Richard started the day by proudly showing the other two his 15 year old Puma Motorcycle boots which he had recently repaired the sole using Prit Stick and spit. Puma you probably know better for producing slightly uncool running shoes.. Their runnning shoes however are Uber cool compared to Richards repaired boots which Jimmy Cricket would not have been seen dead in.
Above was our planned destination or the day. We planned to leave the hotel and head to Argeles-Gazost. We checked the weather forecast and it appeared that we would be chasing the sun. This route would take us through one of the famous hill climes in the Tour d’France, the Col De Solour. It started well, we stopped in Angels-Gazost for a photo and in relatively bright weather booking a hotel in Labureda while we were stopped. We then headed up the 1400 meter climb. We got about 1/2 way up and it started to rain, at 800 meters the rain turned to sleet and at 1400 meters we were in a full on blizzard that would would have made Edmund Hillary turn back. To top it all the route we had planned to take was closed due to the weather and we were directed down an alternative pass. Did we let it beat us though, did we moan, did we bottle it, did we turn back? Of course we did.
We took the photo below and then Gavin, in true Top Gear fashion decided he could not be bothered waiting for the other two and headed back down the pass on his own. Richard and Rob waited for 10 mins to see if the snow subsided and then set off back down the hill after Gav who they caught. 5 minis later. The speed he was traveling down the hill actually defied physics, he really should not the able to stay that upright going that slow.
We got back to Argeles-Gazost and started to look ath the maps to see if we could find an alternative route. ‘I know a good way’ Richard stated which when programmed into the Nav turned out to be the route we had just turned back from. We decided to have another go, take some man up pill, put our heads behind the bike screens and travel back up the pass. God it was crap weather. It rained, rained, snowed, rained, rained, snowed. We stopped at a salt yard to take cover.
By this time Richard had stopped going on about how proud he was of the repair on his 15 year old Pumma Wellys which were leaking like Neil from the Young Ones shoe. Gavin and Rob pissed themselves laughing as Richard backed is bike from under the salt dispenser and stepped into a 2ft deep puddle.
Richard had spent almost as much on his gloves as he did not his boots, ‘piss wet through’
We finally found the sun
How Much???
We are eating dinner and it Richards turn to trip over his bottom lip. His IPhone has stopped working. Those that know Richard will know that this is like cutting off his hands. He perhaps would moan less if you cut off his hands. Today we managed 450Km which considering Gav was being overtook by runners for half of this was pretty good going.
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