Detour #261: The Col du Portillon is Borderline Bonkers, France/Spain
High in the Pyrenees mountains, on the Col du Portillon, there’s a brief moment where your front wheels will be in Spain, while the rears remain in France.
You could easily miss it. There’s no border control, just a small brick pillar denoting the line between the two countries and the letters F and E carved into a pile of rocks. In fact, if it wasn’t for the small car park offering an opportunity to take a break after the exhilarating climb, it would be a cinch to carry on without noticing until the road warning signs switch to Spanish.
And there are plenty of such signs on the Col du Portillon – a cracking curvaceous road that rises from the French side in Bagnères de Luchon and falls to Bossòst in Spain – and vice versa, of course.
Leaving the ancient spa town behind the D618A initially follows a fairly straight path south in parallel with the river Pique, but soon enough you’ll encounter a quickfire sequence of switchbacks passing by the Cascade Sidonie waterfall. There’s but a brief respite before even more hairpins elevate you higher and higher until you pop out into the 1,293 metre-high summit clearing that marks the border.
The descent into Spain is even more tortuous, with tight turn after tight turn (Detour counted seven hairpins) on the way to Bossòst. On the way down you’ll find a pleasant picnic stop and the Aran Park zoo, where a wide variety of animals from Grizzly bears to Iberian Ibex roam the mountainside.
As well as these mammalian marvels you’re also like to encounter plenty of MAMILs (Middle Aged Men in Lycra) on the Col. That’s because it has featured 20 times in the Tour de France since 1957, making it a mecca for cyclists.
Detourists be aware that they usual travel in mini pelotons, and while they might be rather slow as they grind gears on the way up, they can hit serious speeds on the downhills.
From beginning to end is barely 12 miles but such is the turn-tastic nature of the Col du Portillon it’s around a half-hour trip in either direction.
If you’re hungry for more then you’re in the right place. From Bossòst there are many more marvellous mountain passes to explore, or you could head back to Bagnères de Luchon and tackle the sensational Superbagnères road.