Stage 17 - Pau to Col du Tourmalet By Dale

We got up this morning to fairly heavy rains and some wind.  We were determined to return to our previous night's lodging place for two days, so started off, hoping the weather would improve and Roy and I could make the Tourmalet effort and another climb.  But...the weather continued bad and it appeared it would be raining on Tourmalet.  Coming down that steep mountain road on wet roads didn't seem a very "safe" thing to do and Roy commented that he might tie me up if I tried to attempt it.  We drove on, and until we were close to our destination, rain clouds continued to haunt us.  So...we will just have to wait for tomorrow and see if we can use that rest day to get some riding done on the Tour.  I would love to either drive or ride to the top of Tourmalet.  It is the icon of what the Tour is all about.  As difficult as our climb was two days ago, Tourmalet would be even a greater challenge, extending up over 4000' in one direction and over 5000' in the other direction, both climbs being in the 10% grade range.  That is STEEP!!

So, we're going to enjoy our down time here. Our host will be cooking dinner for us, our first chance to have a true "French home cooked meal".  We are also looking forward to re-visiting the restaurant in the village, we ate there two nights ago and had the best lamb in the world (lots of sheep around here.)  Our view of the valley and the mountains from here is spectacular, we are up in the hills above the main town, it is quiet, peaceful, and we have an entire world to ourselves.  Life is good.