Hautacam + Lourdes and elsewhere
Today half the group went to do a combination of riding and hiking whereas the other half took on the Hautacam, another of the classic mountain top finishes in the Tour. As you might expect, your correspondent went up Hautacam. Turns out that while only 13 km from the base of the climb to the summit, it has several significant sections over 12%. The sun was out as were the local beasties, mostly horses, sheep and cows. We did have a very well fed rabbit cross our path later in the day.
After descending Hautacam, Steve, Bill, Howie and I headed off to Lourdes for lunch. We were "blessed" with good food as we wandered through this amazing town of religious importance to many but not us. If you need a Christian something for your wall, bureau or refrigerator, it's there in the thousands. One of us scored some authentic blessed water from one of the taps in their bike bottle - we now ride with God,or at least drink with him/her. Returning to town we had a couple of pastries to make for yesterday's calorie deficiency. To get to Lourdes, there's a paved bike path the entire way. Rick and Todd returned from Hautacam and headed down the same bike path in the opposite direction. Riding without the blessings, they nonetheless had a great time exploring Cauteret. We don't know where the biker/hiker contingent went,or if they've returned. Stay tuned.