On hearing of Nick’s death, the St. Germé cycle club decided to do something to pay tribute to him. The annual pilgrimage, following the “géant du Tourmalet” statue up to its summer home, which Nick took part in every year pre-covid, having been cancelled this year due to building work taking place at the top of the col, they chose to do their own ride as an hommage.

Kieran wanted to join us; I gave him a bike of Nick’s and the rest of the gear, fortunately they’re both the same size, and he promised to do some training as it’s 7 years since he’d cycled. The training rides, however, failed to materialise; he’d attempt the 30km col, known to be a brute, with no training at all.

We took the camper to Pierrefitte Nestalas last night as neither of us is a morning person, and were ready to go when everyone else arrived at 8 o’clock this morning. We were 27 in total, most rode from Pierrefitte, some from Luz Saint Sauveur, 12km up the hill, all except Steve, who set off on his bike at 5 o’clock this morning from his home, near us!

I never had any intention of riding the whole col – I’m no longer capable, but I did 16km before I bottled and got into the “broom wagon”, so I was happy enough with that. Edith dropped me at the top so I could take photos of those strong enough to complete the climb, before she went back down to see if anyone else was struggling. She reported back that she’d seen Kieran sat at the side of the road about 5km from the top, eating, drinking and determined to finish.

At last he appeared, in the second half of our group but far from the last, looking totally exhausted; we had a very emotional reunion on the top of the col. I’m so incredibly proud of what he achieved today, as Nick would have been too.

We all went back down to Pierrefitte, where we’d booked into a restaurant for lunch. There was a toast to Nick proposed by some of the many fantastic friends we’ve made here over the years. A very fitting tribute to an amazing man.