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1.START-END NORTH:Oloron-Sainte-Marie, bridge over La Gaspe-Aspe 2.turnoff to Escot and Col Marie-Blanc on left 3.profile turns on sideroad into Bedous 4.route rejoins D134 main road 5.profile turns onto pass road before tunnel entrance 6.TOP:Puerto de Somport,1640m 7.profile rejoins N330 below Estacion-Canfranc 8.Villanua 9.START-END SOUTH:Jaca, near jct N240-N330

Approaches

From North. The profile starts in Oloron St-Marie. A straight fairly busy road heads for a range of green triangles, that often have their top corner in a wet grey blanket.

The road enters the green, lush mountains and manages to stay at the bottom of the valley, except for a minor hill or two. Bedous, together with Accous and Lees-Atha sit in a wide part of the valley with great views up the "front range" peaks behind Aydus. These villages taken together is the largest agglomeration of people and also tourist oriented businesses along the route.

Probably about half of the route up to the tunnel has a marked shoulder, that is well usable for cycling. There are the customary narrow canyon parts, one or two overhanging rock narrows, and narrow village passages, where shoulders would spoil the excitement. But often there really is enough room, and traffic gets lighter further away for Oloron.

At the tunnel entrance it pretty much disappears. There are a few quickly passing views of jagged rocks between the trees. But it is going to take another workout to get to the truly unobstructed views. At that point the road is amazingly wide, probably to accomodate the ski traffic in the winter. The centerpiece, approaching the summit, is a set of slupted vertifcal cliffs, forming the northern crest of this Pyreneen ridge line.

There is a ski area on the French side. But all of the summit buildings and the more spectacularly located resort Candanchu are all on the Spanish side. Not to be outdone by this a short 2km spur leads to a higher French ski-skyscraper type resort. There is also a short foot trail on the west side of the pass that leads to increasingly better vantage points onto the mountain spectacle. Some of the pictures were taken from this trail.

From South. (described downwards). A wide three lane road bypasses Candanchu (or you can go through it) and shows of the center-altar of these mountains from a few more sides. Just before the road meets up with the tunnel traffic the road passes through an interesting resort. It has a railroad station big and ostentatious enough to serve a major metropolis. Passing through the central part of this tourist resort also gives the feeling of going through a large urban development, between rowhouses 4 or 5 stories tall.

Past the junction with the tunnel, the road is wide and often has a shoulder to accomodate the different types of traffic. A markedly drier scenery, but still green and "in the trees" accompanies the rider on his way into Jaca.