Anyone ridden up to Pont d'Espagne?

[Shut Up Legs]

On the last day of an Alpine / Pyrenees trip around mid-year, I was considering riding from my base in Saint-Savin (a small town 2km south of Argeles Gazost, which is a not-so-small town 15km south of Lourdes) to Pont d'Espagne. I was wondering if any of you had ridden it, and how you found it. Google StreetView shows a LOT of cars and no bicycles, so I was a bit concerned about how cyclist-friendly it is.

Regards and merci d'avance,

--- Victor.

 

[ANT 666]

I went up it last June, there were no cars that day but it was a bit wet and cold, at the top there is a big car park for walkers that go right to the Pont d'Espagne. The last couple of Ks are a bit of a rough surface but no problems going up, but I needed to watch out coming down (but I do descend like a loony). There are no views at the top as its in forest, if you want a view try Hautacam, riding next to Eagles was very cool.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Thanks for the reply. Hautacam is on my list for this upcoming trip, and on one of the other days, it's a toss-up between Col de Couraduque and Pont d'Espagne. At least in the afternoon, it is: my first ride for that particular day will be Luz Ardiden!

 

[User269]

We stayed near Argeles-Gazost in 2011, and didn't experience any problems with traffic. It's a good base for Hautacam, Col d'Aubisque, Col de Soulor, Luz Ardiden, and of course, Col du Tourmalet. Pont d'Espagne was one of our favourite rides and a 33 mile round trip with 3500ft of ascent, and like most of the rides we did, basically half the distance ascending, and half descending! We've only been that one time, but got the impression over 2 weeks that although it was generally warm in early June, there was quite a lot drizzle, low cloud, and mist. In those conditions, the summits are rather cool; we set off for Pont d'Espagne in 19c, but at the top it was 8c. Nevertheless, we had a sunny sat-outdoors coffee in a pleasant roadside bar just a few miles into the descent. A good cycle path exists between Lourdes & Soulom, and we found the general area cycle friendly with good cycling infrastructure, and rode through Saint-Savin a few times with no problems.