In reply to La Shamster:
There are groups out riding today Sam, so there will be routes for you to ride in 3 weeks time
I have seen the word 'destroyed' used several times for a description of Barèges.
Western side of the Tourmalet may not be passable this year?
St Béat was badly flooded, but is passable apparently now, though still not advising people go down over Menté into the village just yet, but am fairly sure the Tour will be going over it on the 7th.
Luchon was flooded, but they really sorted things quickly there with a big clean up effort.
The Val d'Aran over in Spain copped it hard with road damage.
The Gave de Pau wreaked some damage too, though I don't have fully up to date info on the clear up there.
East of us (Aspet)- Into the Ariege was not touched.
There were some large landslips, but all major routes are passable.
There were some road collapses into the rivers, but almost everywhere is now passable, some with diversions.
Some of the locals have been hit hard, with property damage, livestock loss etc - thankfully only 2 people lost their lives, due to rapid evacuation.
The last thing they need now is for the tourist trade to die and they lose their income too.
Summary: Come and visit. You will be able to ride. As to exactly where you want to stay? You may be better to the East of the Tourmalet, but it really depends upon what was on your hit list to ride - I'm assuming you weren't planning on riding up and over the Tourmalet each way, each day to reach your other climbs?
Give me a shout, or find me on FB if you want more info. If I don't have it I have a network of contacts who will.
