suzmaruk travels: TOUR de (YORKSHIRE) FRANCE.

JULY 2014

The 'Grand Depart' of the Tour de France was from Yorkshire 'God's own County' in England. The first day was from Leeds to Harrogate and was a fairly flat stage, a good finish for the sprinters, and Mark Cavendish the top sprinter from the Isle of Man was keen to win the first stage, wear the yellow jersey and dedicate it to his mother who lives in Harrogate. The second stage was to begin in York then head for Sheffield, a tougher hillier route not designed for the speed merchants. There was a third English route, from Cambridge to London, but we would be on our way home while that was taking place. The finish in London was on the Mall with the backdrop of Buckingham Palace. It was a very flat stage through the fens to Essex then along the banks of the Thames into the city.

The start was to be on Saturday July 5 but we arrived in Wakefield on the Tuesday before, driving over from the Lake District where we had a fortnight hill walking. Margaret, Justin and Ewan were coming up later in the week for the event but we arrived early to reconnoitre the best places to view the event in the area. For the first stage we settled for Skipton in the north of Yorkshire and checked with the Tourist Information Office there for the closest place to park and where the big screen for viewing the race was situated. All the roads into the town were to be closed on the day of the race and we were directed to the Auction Mart on the outskirts where they were to use the large car park. The big screen was to be place at the Canal Basin, part of the Leeds Liverpool canal that ran through the town.

The next day for the second stage we went to the village of Holmfirth. The route for this one ran in a semi-circle with Wakefield in the centre but about 12 miles away. This meant that most of the roads to the route (for us) would be open on the day. Holmfirth was the village used as a location for the long running BBC comedy series 'Last of the Summer Wine' . After finding out where to park, about a mile out of town and where the screen was we did a trip of the TV major scenes, like, Nora Batty's house, and Sid's cafe now decorated in red polka dots for the race.

Margaret, Justin and Ewan arrived at their hotel late on Friday evening having been held up on the motorway for about 6 hours by a traffic jam. So we didn't seen them until we met up the next morning where arranged to park at Skipton. We thought we were early, 8am, as we walked to the town centre along the canal with its holiday narrow boats but we we reached the main street it was crowded with people in place along the barriers.

We had originally planned to go to the Canal Basin to watch the earlier stages of the race on the screen then come up to the town centre when they got nearer. It was now Plan B and we found a spot as near the front as we could. We managed to get our camp chairs, which we carried with us, set up and it was a comfortable wait of a couple of hours until the caravan arrived. The Tour Caravan with the cavalcade of the sponsor’s vehicles and trucks advertising their products. When we watched the Tour in Pyrenees a few years ago this was one of the highlights as it passed slowly along the route distributing gifts and souvenirs of the sponsor's products to the waiting crowds. But it was a bit of a disappointment today as it passed through the town at speed and there were no freebies being thrown out. It was then another hour or so before the riders flashed past in a blur of colour and it was all over. We went to the big screen then to watch the remainder of the race. This was a let down as well, Cavendish the crowd’s obvious favourite was involved in an accident as they sprinted toward the finishing line, dislocating his shoulder and tearing the muscle. He had to withdraw from the Tour.

The next day we didn't leave so early to get to Holmfirth as it was nearer. The town wasn't so busy, the village being towards the end of the day's stage. We went to the big screen in the Sands Recreation Grounds to watch the race until the caravan was due to pass through. We got a nice spot at the side of the road under a Scottish saltire. The caravan again rushed past and it was another hour to wait for the race. There was a breakaway that went through first and we thought that the peloton would again zoom past but a crash happened just in front of us. So we had a good view of all the riders and the team's back-up vehicles loaded with spare bikes as they ground to a halt in before us. Once the chaos was cleared and they got on their way again we made for the big screen to watch the closing stages of the race. After leaving Holmfirth they had a long hill to tackle, Holme Moss, that strung out the field, leaving the sprinters in a group well behind the leading peloton of the main contenders for the yellow jersey. There were a few more tricky hills before the end in Sheffield and the Italian Nibali was the winner and in yellow but with only a 2 second advantage over a host of others.

It was a climb for us as well after the finish to collect the car. Margaret has only about 4 weeks to go until her baby is due so she couldn't manage the hill. Justin and I went for the cars and returned to town for the others. There were a few hold ups with traffic on the way back but fortunately it was only a short distance to Wakefield. The others left for Cardiff early the next morning but we stayed on for another day. We watched the final stage in England on the TV in the motorhome. It wasn't very exciting with the flat countryside of the fens presenting no serious challenges. The final sprint on the Mall was won by the German rider Kittel who had won on Saturday in Harrogate.

TOUR PHOTO ALBUM

Roadside decorations