My route from Gibraltar to Skagen (northern tip of Denmark) was
completed on Tues 13/6 after more than 3700 km across Europe. It was
really good! Hard work sometimes, and painful too but worth  all the
effort.

My Pyreneen crossing took place between Sabinanigo (east of Jaca) in
Spain and Oloron in France 14/5.  My brother cycled the whole stretch
over the Col du Somport with a fully laden touring bike and without any
problems.The weather was excellent - warm but not hot, and dry.He didn't
even break a spoke (something he had done on previous days).
Unfortunatley, due to a heavy cold I was forced to take the train and
then the bus - both of which worked very well. In this way I got a rest
day and didn't jeapordise the rest of my trip.
1.There are plans to 'improve'the French side (which is steeper and more
winding)with a motorway! This would be an awful shame and there have
clearly been a lot of local protests recently about this. If these
protests continued and were were big/agressive they would be a problem
for cyclists wanting to use the French side.
2.Contrary to information supplied to my father by the AA the train does
not go all the way from Spain to France and hasn't done so for a
while!It stops at Canfranc from where you can take a coach  to france or
ride the last part of the ascent. The coach driver said you couldn't
take bikes but took mine! so quite what the policy is seems a bit
unclear. The man in the Spanish bus station said very clearly that bikes
could be carried.
3.The Col d'Aubisque was due to be opened on the following weekend
although you could already drive up to the top from the Somport side.
There was no snow but a certain amont of landslide damage being cleared
away from the E-W section of road which lies in shadow much of the day.
When my Dad cycled in France at the end of the 40's there was often snow
next to the road all summer and friends of his were actually stopped by
knee deep snow in early August. So perhaps the weather patterns are
shifting!
4. We checked with the local police in Spain about passes. They were
very helpful & freindly. The Somport tunnel will not be open for at
least 2 more years according to them.
5. The ride to Sabinanigo from Huesca over the puerto de monrepos
(1280m)was quite hard and considered by Spanish cyclists to be harder
than the Somport ride. It has 2  well lit but horribly noisy tunnels
near the end of the ascent but the most exquisite view of teh pyreneen
range which quite took my breath away!
If you have any specific questions or queries about the Pyrenees or any
other bits of my trip etc I'd be glad to answer them. Spain was actually
incredibly mountainous, and by the time we got there the pyrenees were
just another series of long climbs but they were incredibly pretty in
early spring!