Just realised its the etape du tour tomorrow. Good luck to Dave and simon. Hope it goes well. Dig in and Bon courage!

Cheers Niell. Just back from hols and catching up on all things electronic. Thanks for your post. We manged to complete but the tourmalet nearly broke us. Weather was sh*t (fog and rain on the hills) and the top of tourmalet was not much above freezing. The ascents were hard alright but the descents were pretty mental (sheep crap, rain and freezing fog - sounds like a typical club run actually) we were both shivering wrecks at the bottom of the Tourmalet and I was close to jacking it. The only thing that kept us going was the prospect of more climbing to generate some warmth. Those dreich (Roy, is that the right spelling?) club rides have certainly toughened us up. Things brightened for the descent into the finish at Luchon so finally got to see some scenery.

Watched the actual tour stage on the wednesday. Looked like a diffent race. Sunshine, blue skies. Mind you, I'm not great with heights or vertical drops so the foggy conditions were maybe for the best.

Had a go a Col du Marie Blanc (found this the toughest climb of them all) and Luz Ardiden. Dave took in Hautacam also but I was too gubbed to attemp it. Would definately recommend Argele Gazost as a base camp if anyone fancies some iconic pyreneean climbing.

Catch up soon for my usual 'doin' on Wed.

Simon