Yesterday was to be one of the most difficult days of the Tour. Two Class 1 climbs, two HC climbs, and two Class 5 climbs, totalling 14,100' (like biking up to the top of Mt. Rainier from Seattle in one day. Wow. We were still pretty disspirited from the our experience the previous day and decided to make this our day off (the next day was to be the "official" day off, and travel quickly by car to Pau. We stopped alongside the road at a little park by a rapidly running waterway, had a lovely lunch, and arrived in Pau by 5pm. We waited for rush hour traffic to end and then went to the City Center, which was lovely, centered around an old Chalet. Pau is quite large, with lots of tourists, although, many during the winter ski season. We found the main square and an excellent restaurant where we ate MORE PASTA and other assored delicious foods. The dinner was excellent, the surroundings exactly what one could hope for, with the temperatures in the upper 70's and outside dining absolutely delightful. We strolled a bit after dinner and returned to our hotel.
Our lodging was one of these European "business class" hotels, outside the City Center, fairly new, very clean and pristine, totally lacking in character. We were to stay here three nights, as we rested a day and completed Stage 17 returning from Pau towards Luchon. We all decided we would much rather return to the bed and breakfast place we had stayed at the previous night, even though it meant backtracking 60 miles, and rest there the two days we had available. Roy and I could be dropped off on the Stage 17 Route and get the opportunity to go down Tourmalet, the highest and steepest climb on the Tour and tackle another Classification 1 climb. We looked forward to a day of cycling and returning to one of our favorite lodging places.
Our lodging was one of these European "business class" hotels, outside the City Center, fairly new, very clean and pristine, totally lacking in character. We were to stay here three nights, as we rested a day and completed Stage 17 returning from Pau towards Luchon. We all decided we would much rather return to the bed and breakfast place we had stayed at the previous night, even though it meant backtracking 60 miles, and rest there the two days we had available. Roy and I could be dropped off on the Stage 17 Route and get the opportunity to go down Tourmalet, the highest and steepest climb on the Tour and tackle another Classification 1 climb. We looked forward to a day of cycling and returning to one of our favorite lodging places.
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