From home to the Pyrenees (summary)

The first of april I left home for a two days trip to Brussels. Here I stayed for the weekend together with Ria, who arrived by train. We had lovely weather and enjoyed this weekend together very much. Ria went back home and from now on I was on my own. I crossed Belgium via Waterloo battlefield and the famous brewery of Chimay, which I visited and of course tasted the beer.
Next days the trip continued through the north of France and to the capital of the Champaign area Reims. The champaign I tried was delicious! The tour went on via Epernay, Troyes, Avallon to the Morvan area which has a beautiful nature. The route was mainly on little roads which is the nicest way to travel on the bike, because you see more of the countryside and nature. Most of the time the weather was very instable, not to say: cold, very cloudy, few sun and quite some rain.
Via Vichy, town known from Second World War, I reached the nice city Clermont-Ferrand situated at the border of the Central Massive. This mountain area I crossed in about five days. Here there were lovely views from the tops but also from below up to the enormeous rocks. I enjoyed this very much although it was very cold up in the mountains (almost freezing at the highest point of 1200m above sealevel). At the other side of the Central Massive in Figeac it was nice weather and I took a day to visit this lovely town.
Thereafter I continued the trip via Montauban to a very tiny place called Montmaurin. Here I put my tent for the first time, because it was warmer now and no rain expected for a few days. It was nice tot camp there and have a day of rest. The day after, it is the fifth of May, I camped at the foot of the Pyrenees. The views on the snowy tops of the Pyrenees were really marveleous.
Before crossing the Pyrenees to Spain I had a couple of days at the French side. From Luz-Saint-Saveur I made a trip to the immens granite wall at Gavarnie. It was hard climbing up to get there, but it was worth seeing this magnificent rock wall partly still in snow. After this daytrip I climbed the Col de Soulor, known from the Tour de France. It was very heavy but very beautiful up there (1474m), also because the sunny weather that day. My last night in France was in Laruns, from here I crossed the wonderfull mountains of the Pyrenees into Spain. That day the weather was not good, it started with rain. On the top of the Col du Pourtalet (1800m) it was dry for a while fortunately, but when going down it was pouring and very very cold. My first stay in Spain was in Escarilla at the Spanish side of the Pyrenees.
In the next summary I’ll tell more about the first weeks in Spain.