Tuesday, July 19 to go to the Pass of Pourtalet the GPS of the cities offered me to go through Spain, the shortest way. Going up to the pass, an electronic panel informed travelers that the pass is closed on 21/07/2022, passage of the Tour de France (cyclist). I was falling out of my closet not being a little queen tifosi. In search of parking on the French side, I returned to Spain to the large parking lot of the winter sports resort el Formigal, almost deserted. Indeed the caravan of stage 18 from Lourdes to Hautacam passes near the Pass of Pourtalet in the valley. The previous and following stages are in the region, making it unadvisable to venture there. Again I decided to stay cool at 1759 meters above sea level until Friday the 22nd morning.
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| Bivouac Pass of Pourtalet, el Formigal | |
Friday, July 22, the descent from the Pass of Pourtalet 1759 m in the Valentin valley to Laruns 478 m took place in the fog. The arrival in Pau was under an overcast sky with a temperature, certainly higher than in Pourtalet, but more pleasant than the heat wave of the previous week. I crossed Pau without stopping to go to Lescar in a pharmacy near the Le Terrier campsite where I will put my coat rack for two days, to renew the cocktail of drugs for which, by experience, there would be a lack of specialties. Bingo, like the previous month in the suburbs of Bordeaux, a specialty was not available, but the supply organization delivers the absent medicines in the early afternoon. This shopping done and its complement planned, I returned to Pau for the visit by briefly traversing the tour of the green guidebook. In the city center, the huge open-air parking lot at square of Verdun awaits the travellers, thanks to the municipality of the stainless mayor. The city of Pau located on the edge of the eponymous Gave is organized on hills making the visit painful for an elderly person who is no longer nimble. I will walk around the surroundings of the castle, refraining from the interior visit with stairs without a lift, which did not exist in the Middle Ages. I glanced at the ogival-style cathedral without much interest. On the other hand, the cathedral of the city of Lescar, again it, of pure Romanesque style was the place of the burial of the kings of Navarre of the line of Albret. The exterior is very sober but the chevet adjoining the cemetery has decorated corbels. The interior is remarkable for the Romanesque decorations as well as the historical capitals. The floor of the choir has a sumptuous mosaic from the 12th century. Of course it is located in the old town partially surrounded by ramparts and traversed by very narrow one-way streets. To extract myself I went around three times finding myself in front of the gate of the walls limited to 2.1 meters of vertical clearance. For the record, the city GPS persisted in wanting me to pass under the Pau railway line passing through Lescar with tunnels less than 2.5 meters. Shortly after 4 p.m. I was at the pharmacy to obtain the missing specialty then I settled down at the Le Terrier campsite until Sunday morning. This rather long presentation describes a typical day of travel.
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| Pau's castel |
Sunday July 24 was a morning drive to go to Lacanau where I had an appointment at Atlantik Shop to repair the Eberspächer boiler which has never been cleaned since the origin of the vehicle, station in water, mud and the sand skims the step. Like ophthalmologists, the appointment book is monthly! On the way, off the highways, I passed through a village in the Landes where the church has a steeple wall typical of the region. I stopped there to take a few unpretentious shots. The banner of the town hall on the background of the church reminded me of the saga of Don Camillo and Peppone. I treated myself to two croissants at 1.10 euros each, inflation included. At the height of the Arcachon basin there was a smell of burning, witness to the recent fires. In Lacanau the Super U car park welcomed me without difficulty. The temperature is 37°C.
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| Un village sur la route ! |
