PyrX 1

As I found there are way too few travel reports about MTBing in the Pyrenees irrespective of in what language I searched (Spanish, French, German, English), I will write this short summary in the universal language of English. The track is mainly based on www.pyrenees2005.free.fr. I encountered a few difficulties in following their original track, probably because the ways have changed over the last 5 years. I did the cross in May/June 2010. Due to snow I had to make a detour around Puerto Picarda and due to heavy rain I had to skip the last two stages. Stage 0 As always with a one-way tour, one first has to get to the starting point. This is not easy in France since bike transportation in trains is very limited. The best solution is to disassemble the bike, declare it as regular baggage and take a normal train. But even then there was no one-day connection from Perpignan to San Sebastian. The train ended in Bayonnes instead. So I went the remaining 65km by bike. If you take the 8am train from Perpignan, you will arrive in Bayonnes at 3:30pm, so there is just enough time left to finish these 65km before dusk. My route mainly uses big roads, sometimes with moderate to heavy traffic. Approaching San Sebastian, it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the really big roads, but there is always some way to get around them. 65km, 1500 total elevation gain, 4:00 riding time youth hostel in San Sebastian: 18.85€ in 4-bed room, great breakfast Stage 1 I start off with a small side trip to Monte Igeldo, so to say the Montjuic of San Sebastian. In case it does not rain (which it always does), you might have a nice view over San Sebastian. On the way back to Hendaye (which can also be done by train), I made a small detour to Monte Jaikzibel. Small backcountry roads to avoids the heavy traffic, but the price you pay is 500 vertical meters of extra climbing. After lunchbreak in Hendaye, at 1pm I reach the trailhead of the original track. I pass some lovely rolling hills, a very rich flora (hey, it's still raining) on mainly follow abandoned country roads, some forest roads and gravel roads. There is a short singletrack going down from Col d'Inabern, but unfortunately that involves 15min uphill bike pushing beforehand. At 6:40 I reach the first significant sign of civilization since leaving Hendaye, which is the village Elizondo. 98km, 2700m, 6:40 Hotel Trinkete, Luxurious rooms for 37€ (bed only, since breakfast does not begin before 10am) Stage 2 Again mostly forest roads, sometimes even paved. A short section of single track along Lake Irbia. The last hour is on public roads, but not even a single car passed me. The topography slowly evolves. Maximum altitude is 1400m. Again I almost never see any other hikers or bikers, except on a small strip of road after Passo Ibañeta, where my track coincides with the Camino de Santiago. 105km, 3100Hm, 7:20 Albergo de Izaba, 11€ (a 6-bed room all for myself) Stage 3 Slowly I get used to the Spanish rhtyhms. After I was almost dying of starvation last night (restaurants opened at 8:30pm), I got up today at 8 to find out the the nearby bakery does not open until 8:45am. The supermarket even opens at 9:30. This really is a problem since usually there are only very few villages along the route, and they also close for siesta, sometimes from 12:30 to 4pm. Leaving Izaba, I first follow some gravel roads ip to 1200m, where I hit the GR11. It takes me four hours to get across Col Petrafica (1950m), probably the hardest sub-2000m pass I have ever done. Two hours for the uphill (which includes a lot hike-a-biking), one hour to recover from the effort and another hour for the downhill. But the loneliness and the rugged landscape (considering the relatively low altitude) is absolutely worth the effort. At the pass I have to cross some small snowfields, but in the more shady regions on the surrounding mountains the snow line goes down to approx. 1600m (fyi, it is June 2nd today). Even the downhill is not entirely rideable, but this might also be because I lost the track under the snow. Afterwards a nice smooth trail leading through green meadows takes me down from 1850m to 1200m. From there a gravel road leads up to Puerto Escala. After a while the trail goes up in switchbacks to what seems to be the end of the valley (which is by the way features some nice water falls on its slopes). But instead of reaching a pass, I find a huge swampy high plateau in front of me, bordered by snow-covered 3000m peaks. One of the highlights of this trip! The trail across this plateau is somewhat muddy and gnarly, but who cares when one is surrounded by a scenery like this? At some point the plateau ends abruptly and the track virtually falls down the mountain slope, so some walking is necessary, but only a few meters). Then a nice singletrack follows and to my astonishment I find myself 450m lower than expected hitting the Col du Somport road. This problem is corrected within half an hour, but I absolutely cannot remember any trail junctions when bombing down the single track. So here you possibly could avoid some climbing if you take a look at your GPS from time to time. On the other hand, there is almost no traffic on the road and the trail is really nice. 62km, 2450Hm, 5:40 Albergo in Canfranc: very basic rooms, mainly aiming at pilgrims, but absolutely worth the 17€ including a good breakfast (at a reasonable time of day) Stage 4 Today the track makes a considerable detour because to my knowledge there is no pass that connects the upper Rio Aragon valley and Torla in a more direct fashion (and definetely not when there is snow down to 1900m). So first I head south, following the Rio Aragon either on the road (where is little traffic, which becomes more however as the day advances) or on the parallel Camino de Snatiago, which from time to time is covered with very coarse gravel, sometimes too coarse for efficient peadling given the very shallow slope. After lunchbreak in one of the delicious (and inexpensive) fruterias in Jaca I eventually leave the Pyrenees behind. The heat is absolutely paralyzing, so I spend the next two hours lying in the shadow of a tree cooling off in the nearby creek whenever necessary. The route now almost exclusively follows public roads, but there is very little traffic. Suddenly, when making a left turn towards Torla, I see the overwhelming walls of Monte Perdido in front of me. Though I know it from postcards and pictures, in reality it is just too impressive! 98km, 1900Hm, 5:20 Camping in Valle (or even cañon) de Bujaruelo, single rooms on refugio level, 15€, super market at the camping Stage 5 Gravel road with pleasant slope up to 2200m. There the road follows the ridge of the Valle Ordesa, boasting some spectacular views 1500m down into the valley and across the valley to Monte Perdido. After going down (still on gravel roads, but I was told there is a single track shortcutting the switchbacks) to Nerin, an (almost) abandoned public road leads me through the Cañon Añisclo, which is pretty long and really impressive. I spend the rest of the day on not-so-small roads (but still without traffic) along Rio Cinca and Rio Cinqueta. 95km, 1950km, 5:30 Hotel Mediodia (the only hotel in Pals which was open), 52€ (incl. fabulous dinner and breakfast) Stage 6 To my surprise I am the only hotel guest at the breakfast buffet not wearing bike wear. Funny world. The hotel seems to be adapted to bikers as their customers: guided tours are offered and I was even asked if my bike needs a clean-up. The ascent to Puerto de Sahun is easy gravel road, and so is the the descent, at least until I reach an alp, where the trail turns into a singletrack. Except for the first few meters, it has no technical difficulties, but for my taste is a bit too ragged for a low travel full suspension bike. Just hold the bars and wait till it's over. In the lovely village of Sahun I decide not to try the Puerta Picarda (2450m) as it will most definetely be impassable due to snow. So I rather follow the route of Jordi Laparra (who published a book about his PyrX), but it is pretty unspectacular. In Pont de Suert I find out that the next bus to Vielha departs at 7:10pm. As we are in Spain here, the actual time of departure eventually was 8:10pm. So it is already 9pm when I reach Vielha - and all this just because of the 5km tunnel between Pont de Suert and Vielha. I have read reports of other bikers actually biking through the tunnel, but I would not recommend. 74km, 2150Hm, 5:30 Hotel Bonaigua, very basic, but absolutely worth the 24€ (without dinner, which I had in Pont de Suert) Stage 7 Rain all day. Besides that I don't feel well. So I decide to make a little shortcut and ride up to Port Bonaigua directly. More traffic than expected. Very annoying, but not dangerous (there is a pretty wide side-strip reserved for bikers). Still raining when I reach Rifugio Montgarri, so I call it a day. 28km, 900Hm, 2:40 Ref. Montgarri (an old monastery), 15€ w/out anything, luxurious regarding it's a rifugio Stage 8 Still don't feel well, but I'm on the way. So today's stage will serve as a recovery ride. 50km mainly downhill is just what I need. Instead of going across Monte Calvo, I go around it (at no extra kilometers). 50km, 500Hm, 2:20 Hotel Noguera, 26€, balcony directyl above the river Please find the remainder of the "short" description under "PyrX_2".