Watching the Tour de France last summer

The Tour de France schedule has been released for 2012 and once again it’s passing close by us. Our Peaks & Passes walking holiday on the 15-22 July will be a Tour de France special and on the rest day we’ll go and see the race which is a fantastic event. This year the stage is just 4 days from the end of the race and the penultimate mountain stage so we’ll really be at the business end of the race and everything will be up for grabs.

Last summer we had a great day watching the Tour at a fantastic spot just outside Laruns. We made a day out of it taking a picnic, sampling some beautiful French cheese and relaxed waiting for the riders to come past.

The caravan passing by before the riders

Before the riders come past it’s the craziness of the caravan when we all become kids again and collect the Tour de France key rings, souvenir sweets and other tat that get’s thrown out by the passing vehicles!

The peleton approaching

Watching the peleton go past is quite incredible. So many riders packed so closely together you can’t believe they don’t crash at every corner. It’s a fantastic event, a great day out and a must for any cycling fan – why not come along and see the Tour with us next summer!

You can view the full Tour de France 2012 schedule here.

Ryan Air have just released their flights for summer 2011. Zaragoza is the most convenient airport for the Aragonese Pyrenees and Ryan Air has flights from Stansted on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. Hike Pyrenees transfers meet the Sunday evening flight. Prices currently start from just £100 return.

See Hike Pyrenees Summer 2011 dates and prices, book your walking holiday early and take advantage of the cheap flights.

Contador in the yellow jersey with the pelaton behind

The Tour de France stages for 2011 have been announced and once again the Tour is passing through Laruns – just over the French border from us. It’s a fabulous experience to see the riders and on the 15th July we’ll run an excursion to see the Tour for all Hike Pyrenees guests.

Why not combine a trip to see the Tour with your walking holiday?Two of our guests (Ron & Ann) got me interested in the Tour a couple of years ago and since then I’ve followed it avidly. Last year I went to see the race for the first time and had a great day. The stage was down from the Col d’Aubisque to Pau and I set up position on a hairpin bend at the bottom of the descent. It’s slightly baffling as a sporting experience as you spend quite a lot of time waiting and then a frantic half an hour or so of action!

One of the leading riders on the descent

Before the riders come througha bizare collection of promotional vehicles pass by. Then comes the real action as the riders absolutely zoom pass. Their speed around the tight hairpin bend was incredible. The field was split into about half a dozen groups when it passed. Lance Armstrong was in the lead group of riders but by then the race was all about Contador and Shleck. They passed shortly after in the same group and Contador looked to have the race well under control to the delight of the huge crowd of Spaniards that had gathered to cheer him on.

Hike Pyrenees excursion to see the Tour
On Friday 15th July Stage 13 of the 2011 Tour will pass by Laruns again. This time the route is in reverse and we’ll be at the start of the climb as the riders jockey for position. They’ll also be going a little more slowly so we’ll have more time to see them!

Hike Pyrenees will be running an optional excursion to see the Tour so with Team Sky and the British riders expecting to do well next year why not come and cheer them on. The Tour corresponds to our Peaks & Passes walking holiday on the 10-17 July and we’ll move the rest day to the Friday so you don’t miss a days walking.

View information about the stage on the official Tour de France site.

One of the many strange promotional vehicles that proceed the riders

Dougal and his fundraising crew in the Ordesa Valley

 Last week Dougal and his fundraising crew came over for a challenging 4 days hiking in aid of Claire House Childrens Hospice. We had brilliant weather and tackled 4 fantastic routes.

Crossing a snowfield heading up to Pico Anayet

Our first days hiking took us to Pico Anayet – a spectacular, pointy peak of 2545m. There’s a lot more snow than normal in the Pyrenees this summer so we had to cross a few snowfields before tackling the chains and the scramble to the summit.

An airy ledge near the summit of Pico Anayet

Pico Anayet - we headed to the summit from the left

The Faja de Pelay in the Ordesa Valley was our objective on the second day. A steep two hour climb at the start of the day was worth the effort as we were rewarded with spectacular views of the Breche de Roland and over a dozen 3000m peaks including great views of Monte Perdido.

The peaks of Cilindro, Monte Perdido and Anisc standing at the head of the Ordesa Valley

Punta del Pacino (1965m) standing at the centre of the Valle de Tena was our summit for the third day. Superb views over Sallent de Gallego and the Embalse de Lanuza on the way up before getting panaromic views of virtually every peak in the valley from the summit.

The peak of Foratata, the village of Sallent de Gallego and the Embalse de Lanuza

Swallowtail butterfly seen on the peak of Punta del Pacino

Our finals day hike started from Panticosa as we passed through the beautiful valley of La Ripera reaching the 700m cliffs at the head of the valley before before climbing up and over the Col de Sabacos. Great views once again and dozens of marmots!

Overlooking the cliffs of La Ripera

Great effort by everyone – over 12,000 feet of ascent over the four days and well over £5000 raised for Claire House. Send me any photo’s and I’ll add them to the blog (unless they were taken by Helen’s camera in which case I’ll stick the prints on the fridge!). Thanks for a fun week and hope to see you all back in a couple of years for some more Pyrenean peak bagging and fund raising.

If you’re thinking of doing a charity hike or trek we can put together a bespoke itinerary for you – drop us an email at info@hikepyrenees.co.uk and we can give you some options.

Walking in the Valle de Ordiso

The walking season is in full swing here in the Pyrenees and we’ve had a couple of great walking holidays already this June with a Lakes & Valleys and a Discover Ordesa walking holidays. We’ve had some fantastic hikes visiting high alpine pastures, abandoned villages, the Ordesa and Anisclo canyons and some superb summits.

Walking up to the Ibon de Piedrafita

Walking near Bujaruelo on our Discover Ordesa walking holiday

The flowers have been superb and we’ve seen a dozen types of orchid including a couple of rare parasitical orchids – the birds nest orchid and violet limadore. Other orchids we’ve seen are bee orchids, woodcock orchids, fly orchids, elder flowered orchids, sword leaved helleborines, early purple orchids, marsh orchids, common orchids, pyramid orchids and dark vanilla orchids (and probably a couple of others that I’ve forgotten….).

The semi-parasitical violet limadore orchid

Bird lovers have not been disapointed either with the highlight being two lammergeier which landed about 100m away from us and then were joined by a juvenile as they soared off.

Thanks to all of our guests for making June a great month and we hope to see you again in the Pyrenees.