For our big holiday in 2010, we travelled to the Pyrenees with our hillclimbing friends, Cristine and Dominique. We were also joined for part of the trip by Dominique's cousins, Marie and Pierre. We spent our first week at Velo Pyrenees, a fabulous guest house for cyclists and runners in the heart of the central Pyrenees. Our relocated-British hosts, Julie and Lee, provided wonderful meals, routes and advice. We did day loops for a while and then headed farther afield for some light touring before returning to Julie and Lee for our last two days.

It was blackberry season and Julie claimed I stripped blackberry bushes for kms around. I did leave some!

Dominique and Cristine came in a day after we did, sadly with only one bike. Cristine was able to rent a bike from Julie, and we headed into a nearby town for cleats and such. We encountered some sunflowers and rainbows along the way.

Once the whole group was together, we took in a longer ride and a visit to the Fabio Casartelli monument.

Lunch was grand - served on roofing tiles!

John and I left the group for a little dirt road exploring