[i]BACKDATED BLIP Oct 2013[/i]

First day of Le Tour and we had to be in Plumelec with the car parked before 9.30am. The tour didn’t finish until late afternoon but it is an amazing feat in organisation which ensures the event goes smoothly.

C isn’t interested in sport at all, so thought she would be very bored and not enjoy the day at all. However it was a fantastic day of constant entertainment. The cycle tour was shown on big screens, and there was food stalls, clothes stalls, cycling stalls, amazing sponsors entertainment, and a parade which went for hours. The sponsors gave away all sorts of treats (biscuits, cheese, lollies, milk, etc), products (hats – red ones and yellow ones, bags, water bottles, etc, etc), and the very friendly crowd were happy to talk to whoever was nearby.

The team buses passed by – they were enormous and very impressive – then the cyclists arrived, sprinting to the finish line, up a very steep hill, and just flew by with a whoosh, but close enough to touch ………… and C was well and truly caught up in the excitement 🙂

Then as soon as the race was over, the presentation took place, the team buses drove away to the next day’s starting town, the finishing line and seating areas were folded back into their buses, the sponsors hosting buses were folded away and driven off. In no time at all what had been a huge festival, was returned to a quiet little village, with a bit of social activity in the bars.

What a wonderful experience and a day we will never forget.