Tour de France passes by

Well after years of the Tour de France going round France, with the Tour sometimes coming nearish to our Gite, and sometimes not, I finally last week got to see the live action in person.

However I wasn't in a sleepy French village or up in the Pyrenees mountains, I stood in the cycle lane of Trumpington High Street in Cambridgeshire, about 10 miles from my home as the early stages of the tour came to the UK.

First came all the advertising and sponsorship cars and to be honest this was a bit of a disappointment as they sped through, must have been doing 30 mph or more, so it wasn't even easy to see the decorated vehicles.
The only one that we did see well was the official fan van that stopped in front of me to sell a goodie bag with T shirt, cap, stickers for £20. They did well but I wondered if the price would be €20 on the other side of the Dover straits?

Then for the next couple of hours the people standing alongside me on the pavement grew as the occasional car, police motorcycle, official vehicle and even the gendarmes went through.

Finally the waiting was over and without much fuss or noise the peloton shot past in a blur of cyclists. Impossible to even see the previous stage winner in the yellow jersey let alone recognise anyone.

Then as soon as they had gone by it was a flurry of French ambulances and then car after car of the different sponsor teams, each one stacked high with replacement bicycles.

I've filled all my photos and videos of the Tour de France event on a public Google photo gallery so hopefully you will be able to see them ok.

Tour de France 2011 visits Brittany

The Tour de France has just announced the route for 2011 which covers a distance of 3,471 kilometres over 21 stages including 6 on the mountains.

Next year the TDF once again returns to Brittany and if you're quick you can go and see it in person as we our Gite is currently vacant for the Tour de France 2011 Brittany dates in July next year.

On July 4th the tour enters Brittany with the 3rd stage completing in Redon, then on the 4th the riders setout from the naval port of Lorient and ride up to Mûr-de-Bretagne in the centre of Brittany. The next day the coastal region of Finistere is visited for a 158km run and finally on July 7th the stage starts in the medieval town of Dinan and completes 226km later on in Normandy.

Most of these towns are about an hour from our Gite and we're pretty much in the middle of Brittany so easy to see the race on all of these dates.

Drop us a line if you are interested in booking a holiday, either to see the Tour de France or on any other dates next year.

PS: Christmas and New Year 2010 is still available as well.

Tour de France comes to London

BBC: Tour de France

It can't have escaped notice that the Tour de France came to London this weekend with the time trial prologue on Saturday and then the main race starting on Sunday.

We didn't go down to London ourselves, preferring instead to watch the action as the riders threaded through London and Kent on the TV.

Lots of photos and a good explanation of the Tour de France are all on the BBC's website and on the dedicated Tour de France London website.

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Categories: TourDeFrance, Cycling