Day 8: A Rest Day in Montory — Picos & Pyrenees May 2026

A Morning to Do Whatever You Like

The hotel terrace at the Logis Hôtel l’Auberge de l’Etable. That view comes with breakfast.

Not every day on tour needs to be 140 miles. Day 8 was always planned as a genuine rest day — two nights in Montory, no bags to pack, no checkout time to race. What the group did with it was entirely their own business.

Some riders stayed at the hotel, used the swimming pool, and let the morning pass at whatever pace felt right. A few wandered out into Montory itself — a small, handsome village in the Soule valley of the French Basque Country, where the stone buildings and mountain backdrop make it feel completely removed from the modern world.

Montory on foot. Stone lanes, slate rooftops, mountains at the end of every street.

A few others rode out to find fuel and explore the surrounding roads on their own — no destination, no plan, just the bikes and whatever the Soule valley had to offer. Some days on tour, that’s exactly the right way to spend a morning.

Into the High Passes

The rest of us pointed the bikes uphill. The Pyrenees don’t run short of passes, and the valleys around Montory give you access to some of the finest high-altitude riding on the French side of the range — roads that climb through forest, break out onto open rocky ridgelines, and keep delivering corners and views in roughly equal measure.

The view from the high passes. A deep gorge, yellow wildflowers on the ridge, Pyrenean peaks stretching to the horizon. No filter needed.

The weather was close to perfect — warm enough to ride without feeling overdressed, cool enough at altitude to keep everything sharp and clear. The kind of day where the visibility is exceptional and you find yourself stopping every few kilometres because the view has changed again and it’s worth looking at properly.

Parked at the top with the Pic du Midi d’Ossau on the horizon — and the Road King looking exactly at home in the mountains.

The Snow Line

Late May in the Pyrenees. The bikes are warm, the snow bank is very much not.

Higher up, the snow from winter hadn’t finished clearing. The road was open — just about — but on either side, the banks of compressed snow rose several metres above road level, the kind of late-season snowpack that catches you by surprise when you’ve just ridden up through sunshine and wildflowers.

Snow in May. Arms out, big smiles. The Road King doesn’t seem bothered at all.

Nobody complained. The contrast between the warm, sunny riding below and the wall of snow at the top made it feel like a proper mountain day — the kind of thing you can’t plan for and wouldn’t want to miss. Photos were taken. The snow was touched. The bikes were turned around and pointed back downhill.

Back to Montory — Beers and Dinner

The debrief. Vintage enamel signs, cold beer, and very little need to say anything — the day said it for itself.

By late afternoon the group had reassembled — the pool contingent, the fuel explorers, and the pass riders — all converging back at the hotel with their own stories from the day. That’s one of the things a two-night stop does that a single-night stay never quite manages: it gives people room to do different things and then bring those things back to the table.

Dinner that evening was at the hotel again. The Logis Hôtel l’Auberge de l’Etable does not do a bad dinner. The Pyrenees were still out the window, the wine was still very good, and tomorrow there would be bags to pack again. But not tonight.