Day 8 – Climb to Hautacam

Today we tackled one of the more difficult climbs in the area – to the Ski terminus of Hautacam. the climb is about 13 klms, although we added another klm by riding up to the cafe at La Tramassel on the top of the mountain. It’s 1,520 mtrs above sea level and we ascended !,390 klms from where we started at the base of the climb in the Pau valley. Although it averages 7.5% gradient, there are some quite long stretches of 9 and 10 and even 14%. In all I rode 49 klms in just over 3 hours for an average speed of nearly 16 kms p/hr. My average heart rate was 116 – getting lower which I think indicates I’m getting fitter. The scenery along the way was spectacular as usual, although when I reached the top it was covered in cloud, so I couldn’t see much. After a quick coffee, the ride down was exciting, although I was a little restrained only hitting 62 klm/hr. (think I’m being a bit more cautious, remembering what happened last time I was over here). On our way home, we took a little diversion to do a bit more climbing up to the small town of Saint-Savin before heading home to Argeles Gazost to watch the finish of the Tour de France stage for the day.

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