Practicalities

How to get there
We caught the night train to Lourdes from Paris (Gare d’Austerlitz). The train also stops at Pau, Tarbes and Biarritz. There is a small compartment for bikes (no need to package or take wheels off), and you have to book a slot (depending on availability) when you buy the train ticket. This costs an extra 10 euros each way. Train times can be consulted on the SNCF website, but it's not yet possible to make an online reservation with bike.

Accomodation
We didn’t book ahead, as we preferred to have the freedom to extend or truncate our daily route according to the weather and our state of exhaustion. In general, we stayed in gîte d’étapes – cheap, family-run chalets or houses in rural settings. You can usually get a private en-suite room or bed in a dormitory. Owners often provide evening meals (as a group, around a big table) and breakfast. Indeed, the handbook listing these establishments was our accommodation bible. It is compiled by Gîtes de France, which also publishes a listings book for Chambres d’hôtes, or Bed & Breakfast accommodation – which we sometimes used.

Getting around
We only used public transport once when we were actually in the Pyrenees - to get from Montréjeau to Pau. This train took bikes (without packaging or dismantling) without any problems.

Time of year
September proved wet – which is never much fun. Perhaps we were unlucky, but the Pyrenees are not green without reason. At the same time, there are fewer tourists in September, and this made finding accommodation relatively easy.