Here is a shot from the top of the Col de Pailheres (2001m). It is pretty spectacular at the top in good weather. Climbing from the Aix-les-Thermes side is a good haul but the opposite side is even longer and steeper. I met a French cyclist who had not realized that before starting out and was beside himself. He kept saying "That's harder than the Tourmalet!"

This is from the latter half of the trip first week of August 2011 with Yoshi and Mayumi from Hendaye across the Pyrenees to Banyuls sur Mer. We judiciously skipped a couple of segments but still had 600km and 8-9,000m of gain over four and a half days. At end took a train from Perpignan to Barcelona to meet the family. That worked fine but there is even less space to stow bikes on European hi-speed trains than in Japan.