Sunday July 20th
 

Leaving Ax-le-Thermes on the bus yesterday was quite a hassle.   A lot of traffic driving out of the Pyrenees then a long ride to Lourdes.   We arrived at the hotel about 11PM.  Lourdes is a town for Catholic pilgrimages and not really a place for bike racing enthusiasts.   The hotel was not very good.  Especially since there were no televisions in the rooms and no air conditioning.   Lourdes is a likely destination for these trips due to its close proximity to the Pyrenees and the number of hotel rooms.  I was told it is second in the number of hotel rooms behind Paris.    We stayed there four days.

We opted to not see stage 14 live today.  It was quite far from the hotel and required a long bus transfer back to the hotel after the stage.   After yesterday's long bus ride, we decided to ride up the Hautacam from Lourdes.  Hautacam is a very difficult climb and has seen a few exciting stage finishes in year's past.

After the ride we had lunch in Argeles-Gazost and watched the finish on TV back in Lourdes.

Ride Photos to Hautacam