Day 3 - Orthez to Somport

Another day started with waterproofs on! 

We had to decide whether to take the Pass or the tunnel at Somport.

The rain turned to drizzle as we headed further south. A short distance before the left turn up to the pass we stopped at some lights for roadworks. We decided to go for it. 

It was clearing up and looked brighter. The twists and turn were exciting enough on a bike. The road surface shaming English roads!

As we neared the top we entered the cloud! 

We stil took a few photos. The pass is on one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago. There were a good few dozen walkers milling about.

Outward Route - Pass or Tunnel?

As mentioned before Neill's outward route goes through the Somport Tunnel.  The tunnel is just short of 9kms long.

If we have enough time I'd like to go over the Somport Pass instead and get that chalked off! I prefer the passes to tunnels every time!

It might be quicker by tunnel but I don't think anyone would want to miss the mountain view to go through a dark and dank tunnel.

Using to two points on either side of the border Google Maps I calculated it would be 6.7kms further to go over the Col rather than the tunnel, and about 12 minutes added to the day's riding. 

To me that sounds like the Col isn't that much of a problem and we can tick off a 1632 metre pass along the way!  Plenty of photo ops as well.

The two maps below are using MyRouteApp and the Michelin Map overlay.

Tunnel route left, Pass route right.

I do like to have a photo of the bike,  and even me in them, by the sign that says the altitude of the pass. 

For example:

From 2014!