Pyranees - Col de Mente and Port de Ares

A brief update to be completed at a later date. It's late again, all have gone to bed and I want to go too.
Today was excellent, a larger group, Poms, Canadians, Australians and others set out for Col de Mente, a nasty little climb of 10 km at an average grade of 9.something %. A genuine leg warmer and lung burner. The descent was an apt reward and led us on to Cassateli's the memorial, who was killed in an accident on the tout back in ..........
From here some more casual descending through the trees by the creek on roads that cyclists only dream of... no cars, good surface, winding, cool temperature and an average speed around 40 km/h. The next ascent was actually a pleasant 4-6% to the Port de Ares where we stopped for coffee and lunch... the usual fare of salad, ham, cheese, quiche and bread to fuel us for the final leg home.
This was meant to be relatively simple down the hill, turn right then left then right again, but alas the detail can be tricky and we had a excellent detour through villages up hill and down dale ultimately ending at the desired destination..... there will be no further comment on who was right or wrong... penalty is 4 beers.
Anyway, were all home feeling pretty good, legs are ready for anything now and looking forward to Port de Bales tomorrow.
Bon Noir
BB