July 7 Rocamadour to Villefrance-du-Perigord 108 K / 67 Miles via Lacave, St Julien-de-Lampon, Sarlat-la-Caneda and Domme

A wonderful day of riding with a little bit of traffic due to being in popular tourist areas. The Boulangerie in St Julien had great pizza. The old section of Sarlat is a must see. It was a climb up to Domme and a very good view of the Dordogne Valley. Domme is an old walled town filled with shops and tourists. As I was twisting and turning through the streets trying to find my way out of town I hear, "Are you an American?". I guess my gear gave me away or something!!! Dan, from California, now lives in Domme with his wife and are busy remodeling their new place. We had a nice talk and he said I was the first American cyclist he had met coming through Domme. Hey Dan, thanks for the directions out of town, and for stopping me to talk. I made it to Villefranche-du-Perigord around 7:00 and had a great evening relaxing (and doing my chores :) ).

July 8 Villefrance-du-Perigord to Lavit 127 K

A great day of cycling, really pretty territory. I cycled past the Chateau Bonaguil (photo). I took a break in Montaigu-de-Quercy. I would cycle in a valley a good way then climb my behind off. I did a really, really steep climb between St Paul and St Vincent. I mean - steep. But No stopping on the way up. Stopped in Auvillar because I had read it was one of those places you just gotta see (photos).

July 9 Lavit to Auch 82 K

It was super hot today, I saw 35° C at 3:00 in the afternoon in Fleurance. Have I told you how everything here in France closes at 7:00. No kidding, and this really effects your day while touring because you can't pedal long into the evening (and heck, it doesn't get dark until after 10:00) and expect to go to the grocery store or restaurant or bike shop, etc, etc. It amazes me how different the social norm is here compared to back in the good old USA as pertains to relaxation and being constantly busy. Did I get that point across? If I don't get to a town by 12 Noon, forget it 99% of the time everything is closed untill 2:00. I took some photos to demonstrate, they'll be coming later. This internet cafe here in Argeles-Gazost won't cooperate with uploading photos. One sporting goods store bragged on it's sign that it was open from 7:30 to 7:30 NO INTERRUPTIONS. Sheetz wouldn't make it here because nobody is out and about after 7:00.

July 10 Auch to Bagneres-de-Bigorre 115 K

It is time to take a day off, but I have to position myself to be on Hautacam to be in the midst of the crazed cycling fans on one the famed mountain-top finishes in the Tour de France history. Climbing out of Auch was really steep, right up through the old part of town and the super big cathedral, St Marie I believe. It's being restored like many Catholic churches I have passed. The 64 million dollar question is, "Is it historical restoration or a spiritual restoration taking place, or maybe both. I guess you can see from my photos that Crosses are everywhere. On entering every town and village there is a Cross. Always in a different form, but there it is affirming faith in Jesus. The townsquare has a Cross. Farms have a Cross. Homes have a Cross. Farmers fields have a Cross. Crossroads have a Cross. France has a Cross everywhere you go. Oh, I spotted my first non-catholic church yesterday in Fleurance. The sign on the storefront read Eglise Evangelique. Evangelical Church. I was very excited to reach Bagneres-de-Bigorre today, because that means I've arrived at the Pyrenees Mountains. Upon entering Bagneres I had a lady cyclist, a local, along side of me at a traffic light so I tried a question in French on her and "Wala", she spoke English perfectly. One minute later she was inviting me to camp in the garden (yard) at her home. She said, "Just tell my husband, Lynn said you could.". But I opted for a campground nearby. I ate my first French pizza. Do you think Jioio's or Gino's will deliver to France? I could see the Pic Du Midi Observatory above the Col Du Tourmalet this evening, almost 9000 feet, and I'll be climbing up there soon. Awesome! And the photo of the van with "Just Kitchens" is there because when I saw the English lettering I asked the driver for directions to the "superemarche" to get water and he gave me two 1 1/2 litre bottles. Nice people. Send him a thank you for me.

July 11 Bagneres-de-Bigorre to Argeles-Gazost 55 K

I was going to take today off but I needed to put myself closer to Hautacam before my rest day. And Saturday is supposed to be the one bad weather day this weekend. So I plan to take Saturday off and take the local bus to Lourdes to check out this famous pilgrim site and say some prayers. Hey Tim Reidmiller, I'll be praying for you and your family while I sit in church in Lourdes!!! The ride over to Argeles-Gazost was pretty incredible. It rolled, then I had a couple miles of climbing, but then, AWESOME BABY, one of the greatest downhill runs ever. Not for speed, but just sheer coolness. Rolling through villages, looking up at strangely carved mountains. Just cool. So now I'm planted in Argeles-Gazost for the next 4 nights. July 12 I rest and visit Lourdes, July 13 I climb Hautacam and scope out where I'll stand and watch the Tour De France go by and probably ride back through Argeles and climb the Col du Soulor and the Col D' Aubisque, (by the way did I mention that there is the possibility of snow Saturday July 12 in the higher elevations), July 14 I will rise very early to climb Hautacam and try to beat the masses of cycling fans going to the top. The leader of the TDF that day should be passing me about 3:30. Look for me on Versus TV. I'll be the guy in the red shirt with the super goofy grin.

July 11 Walking Tour Of Argeles-Gazost

Not much in the way of photo opportuinities. It was late and the sky was gray. I'll add some more later of the "Centre Ville". Click on the Cross photo.

July 12 Lourdes

Today is a day "off the bike". A zero day. I took the local bus to the pilgrim city of Lourdes at 10:15 this morning. It was a 25 minute ride and I hopped off the bus into the drizzle and searched out the Tourism Office. Once I had a city map in hand I was off, only God knew where. But soon I discovered a blue line painted along the streets that turned out to be a walking tour of Lourdes. There are a number of churches in town, but the main church, the shrine, THE SANCTUARY is why the pilgrims are here. The plaza around the Sanctuary church can handle 80,000 people. I saw "a league of nations" parading toward the Church. One youth group broke into clapping when they first laid their eyes on the Church in the distance. This is obviously a sacred place to Roman Catholic Christians. And I'm sure many others visit out of curiosity. I'm glad I got to spend some time praying here. I hope the paintings/murals are clear enough in my photos. There is a hotel for just about every saint including the "fuzzy" St Charles! Must be my friend at WCCC library. He's a little fuzzy in the head. "Buy me something Charlie".

July 13 Col du Soulor - Col d'Aubisque - Pont d'Espagne

What an incredible day. I got to climb three of the famous Tour De France Climbs. And in doing so I discovered that two of them are really one climb with a 2K downhill in between. I started out of Argeles-Gazost with a 3K steep climb, then it went up more gradually but it still was climbing until the village of Arrens-Marsous where you begin the climb up the Col du Soulor. There are signs every Kilometer telling you the gradient/% and number of meters ascended and how far to the top. Soulor was 7 1/2 %, then 8%, Then 8 1/2%, for 11K. Once on top of Soulor there is a 2K incredible descent (you don't want to go off the side) and then you begin the climb up the Aubisque (Oh - beesk) (I call it ahh - biscuit). The Aubisque itself, for all it's fame is only 5K. But the last Kilometer is at 8% at the end of a 16K climb from Arrens-Marsous and 30K from Argeles-Gazost.

After the downhill run back to Argeles-Gazost and my campground I headed off to Cauterets to climb Pont d'Espagne. Turns out it's only flat until Soulom, then you have an 11K climb, a beautiful climb, to Cauterets, and then you begin the 8K climb up the Pont d'Espagne. Truly a fabulous climb. The phots hopefully give you an idea of the scenic beauty. For 19K / 12 Miles you are riding along cascading waters.