Foix - Loudenville: part 2 (rest day)
OK, so today was supposed to have been a rest day, but there was still yesderday’s unfinished business to attend to.
As it happened there was about one and a half hours of the stage left which was about the distance that the boys would have cycled on a rest day anyway.
We woke up to a typically damp Pyrenean morning, but were confident that the cloud would burn off as there was a glimmer of blue in the sky if you looked hard enough. After a leisurely breakfast Mick lead the campsite in rebellion against a particularly beligerent cleaner who had decided to shut the clothes washing facilities at peak hour. He wasn’t actually cleaning anything, preferring to stand outside the block arguing with people trying to get in. Mick managed to breach the makeshift barrier and was soon scrubbing away at his kit happily chattering in pidgen French with his new groupies (Who had an average age of about 65).
By the time Sean and Mick set out to finish the stage the sun was shining and there was a positively party-like atmosphere on the Col de Peyresourde as the tour proper was only a day behind.
The sunshine and atmosphere didn’t do anything to lift the tense atmosphere back at camp. Concerns about the length of time it had taken to complete that stage coupled with general fatigue made everyone nervous about tomorrow’s ride - the last, but longest mountain stage containing what is reputed to be the hardest single ascent in the Tour.