Detour #55: Peak Pyrenees, France
For the best roads in the Pyrenees make the town of Luz Saint-Sauveur the gateway to your mountain getaway. That’s exactly what photographer Valerio Lettieri did when he grabbed his cameras, a couple of buddies and a hire car.
“We flew into Bordeaux and drove down from there. I still feel sorry for the Seat Ibiza that we raced through that memorable journey. It had a 1.2 litre, three-cylinder, 70bhp engine that we had to constantly rev all the way up to the red line to drive at a decent speed on mountain roads,” says Valerio.
The highlights of the trip were the roads that head east and west out of Luz Saint-Sauveur. The D918 goes to Pic du Midi Bigorre, while the D921 and 920 will take you to Pont d’Espagne.
Valerio started with the D918, up early to catch the best light and miss the traffic, thrashing the little SEAT through the bends that wind up to the top of Pic du Midi Bigorre. “The views are breathtaking. It’s hard to choose between stopping to take a picture or pushing down the accelerator,” he says. At the peak there’s an observatory, whose telescope was used to photograph the surface of the moon in planning for the Apollo landings.
Next up was the D921 to Pierrefitte-Nestalas cutting through the foothills before dipping south on the D920 towards the natural springs at Cauterets. The road meanders along nicely, passing waterfalls and the majestic Lake Gaube but then throws in some g-inducing corners at Gave de Cauterets before going completely twist-tastic from La Ralliere to Pont d’Espagne. “The series of bends almost begs you to run them sideways,” says Valerio – although the chances of achieving such antics in the rental car were slim.
“We gave the car back with nearly 1,000km more on the clock. It was fun but we probably should have budgeted for something with 10 cylinders!”
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Valerio Lettieri Instagram
