The beginning

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So for those of you who have no interest in cycling I'm afraid this entry (and the next couple) are going to be a bit boring for you. I am just over one week into my travels and into the Le Tour de France and let me tell you it has been an awesome week.

In following the TDF I am driving for the first ten days by myself and then join a group after that to finish it off. I think I my have under estimated how difficult the driving would be. Funnily enough it's not driving on the right side of the road or the left side of the car (it only took me 3 days to stop reaching for the gear stick on my left!!) it's having no idea where I am going and having no idea what the road signs say. To top it off Europeans drive like mad people, worse in Belgium than France, and don't like it too much when you drive slowly or the speed limit. Oh and the best part is when you are driving a long a freeway and the GPS loses signal and tells you every 2 mins to turn left, into a concert fence!!

That aside I have certainly been to some absolutely beautiful places. My first stop was Battice, Belgium, a lovely little country town, an hour out of Brussels. Although arriving on 29th it pretty much took me a whole day to get from London Heathrow to Battice, so my first official day was 30th, the Prologue for TDF. This was held in Liege, Belgium, which was supposed to be a 20 min drive but with all the people trying to get into Liege it took 2 hrs. Once arriving in Liege I walked my way through the 6.4km individual time trail course and found a great spot at about the 2.1km to go point. The whole course was literally lined 2 or 3 people deep the whole way, so as the riders went through it was a huge wall of sound, it was incredible. The fans were there to see some riding so each and every rider that went through got a massive cheer, some a bit more than others. Cadel Evans was the last rider through the course (because he won last year) at 5.30pm with the winner of the stage being Fabian Cancellara. As for Liege I unfortunately can not tell you too much about it, with all then people there it was too hard to walk around and a lot of the streets were closed off for the race.

Day 2 (01/07) and the first official stage for the TDF. This stage was from Liege into Seraing and given the amount of people that were in Liege for the Prologue a thought I would try my luck on a climb about half way through the stage, but the race had other plans for me. As you could imagine there are many road closures on each stage, and on this day one stopped me from getting to the point that I wanted, so I stopped at the road closure which was this little town of Theux, about 20km into the stage. It was a flat section so the riders flew through the town, with what seemed like the whole town was out to cheer them on. Given it was still quite early and I was close to the end of the stage I thought I would try my luck at getting there to see the finish. One good thing about the TDF is you can always find where it is even when you are lost, because there are always people around. So in getting lost trying to find the finish I stumbled on a bunch of parked cars, so decided to park and follow the other people and low and behold it was actually the finish. I was too late to get on the barriers at the finish line but did get a good spot in front of the presentation podium. Peter Sagan won the stage and Fabian Cancellara held onto the yellow jersey.

Day 3 (02/07) and my last day in Belgium. I headed into the town Namur and was just going to find a place along the roadside to stand but a noticed heaps of people walking in the direction of this castle like thing. It turned out to be Citadelle de Namur and the location of the only climb of the day. Only a category 4 climb, which in TDF lingo is a pretty easy climb, that had 5 switchbacks to the top. I found a place on the 2nd switchback which gave not only a lovely view of the whole town, but also the race (the riders are easier to see when they climb because they are riding slower than on a flat!). Although I didn't go all the way to the top of the climb I could see from where I was there whole climb was lined with people, who cheered as soon as they saw the riders. The stage winner was Mark Cavendish and Fabian retained the yellow. After viewing the race I had to return car number 1 (a Mercedes A130) and catch the train from Brussels to Lille, France. Unfortunately I was just in Lille to sleep (didn't get there until 8.30pm and was out bright an early the next day to head to the stage and the next hotel). From the very little I did see though it was a really nice place. I stayed in this hotel that overlooked the town church and all the streets in the town centre were old cobbled streets, really nice place.

Day 4 (03/07) and my first proper day in France. My first stop is Orchies which was the start of the stage. Again there are just people everywhere, everyone trying to get that little bit closer to get a photo of there favorite rider. The actual start of the race is a bit of an anti-climax, there is no count down, announcement or sound to start the race, they just go once the official car goes. I then moved onto the feed zone in a town by the name of Therouanne. I thought because this was a small town that there wouldn't be that many people there and would be able to get a better look as the riders pass through. Unfortunately I misjudged how long it would take to get out of Orchies and to get to Therouanne that I literally got there with 20 secs to spare. There were also people lining the street so I was back off the road behind a row of people. Seems when the TDF passes through your town, everybody comes out and even people from neighboring towns also join in! So I only got a glimce there, but in heading to my next hotel in Amiens, I opted to take the scenic route through the country side, partly because I was too scared to use the tolls yet and partly because I was in no rush. I was glad that I did this because I got to see some beautiful little places. Lots and lots of green fields, many a tree lined road, small little towns with only 10 houses to them, some beautiful stuff. Peter Sagan won the stage and Fabian is still in yellow.

Day 5 (04/07) and I decided to take a day off driving, I had driven so much already, the drive out to the stage would be at least 1.5 hrs (probably more at the pace I am driving) and I knew I had a couple of big days of driving coming up. I took the opportunity to explore Amiens in the morning. The town is famous for its massive gothic catherdal, which really does tower of the city. The carvings on the outside of the catherdal are amazing, same as the artwork and sculptures on the inside (my favourite was the crying angels). There is also a small canal system in one small part of the town, which has walkways and bridges (with little flower pots) all the way along them, parts with restaurants and cafes, other with just houses, it's a really pretty part of town. The central part of town has cobbled streets and huge stone building, you know banks in buildings that have been there for hundreds of years and the like. After my morning of exploring I headed back to the hotel and watched the race on TV. The funny thing with following the TDF is you don't actually get to see a lot of the stage. You need to leave the hotel early to get a good spot at whatever point in the stage you are going and then because there are so many people at each point to takes a while to get out and to the hotel again, so today was a nice change to see everything that was going on. Andre Gripel won the stage and Fabian is still in yellow.

Day 6 (05/07) and I am going to try my luck at a feed zone again, the town was Viefvillers. Feed zones are good because the riders will throw away there empty drink bottles (bindons in TDF lingo) and food bags after they have gotten what they want out of them. I was there with plenty of time today but was unlucky and didn't pick anything up, but I still got to see the riders go through at at relatively slow pace. I had a big 3 hr drive to the next hotel in a place called Chausse sur Marne. This was again just a sleep stop and being such a small town, I had fun trying to explain the the lady at the hotel at I wanted to check in, luckily there was a man who spoke French and English also checking in who was able to translate. If he wasn't there I might have ended up on the street. Gripel won the stage again and Fabian is still in yellow.

Day 7 (06/07) would prove to be my biggest day of driving, the GPS said 4.5 hours but it actually turned out to be 6. Since I had the long drive to the next hotel I made my way to the start of the stage in Eperany, which is in the Champagne region, home of Moët. Unfortunately I couldn't get right into the start line but stop at the 0km mark (the stage doesn't actually officially start at the start line, there is generally 5-10km of riding before the stage actually starts, that 5-10km is sort of like a parade of the riders through the town they start, the riders can not attack until after the 0km point). I wish I was able to spend some time looking around Eperany because it looked like a really nice place. There were some pretty massive crashes in the stage today, some riders kits being torn to shreds, there was even a small crash near where I was and they hadn't even officially started racing yet, lots of nervous riders out still. Peter Sagan took his third stage and Fabian has another day in yellow.

Day 8 (07/07) and my best day yet. So I am in this small town called Guebwiller, it's not a town that is in my France travel book, but it really should be. If you imagine a small town, with cobbled stone streets in the centre of town, nestled in the foots of some mountains than that is where I am. This stage was always going to be a turning point of the race, with the finish a top a steep climb, we were really going to see who had the legs today. I was never going to get up into the finish, way too many people, so I decided to go to the checkpoint for the sprinters which was about half way through the race. I start driving high into the mountains and viewing some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, the type where you take a photo and it does absolutely no justice to the place. Lush green rolling hills, looking down onto small little towns and one amazing lake, which also looked to be some of France's ski field in the winter. Driving through these roads I realize how truely lucky I am to be doing this! The little map I have and my GPS don't tell me that the sprinters checkpoint is actually at the top of this big mountain and by the time I get up there, there is no where normal to park (I didn't fancy perching the car on the side of the road and the edge of a mountain) so I drive back to the bottom of the mountain and stop at the little town at the bottom. Beautiful little place, with a river running through the middle of it. As I am at the bottom of a mountain the riders come through the town a lightening speed, and in single file (which means they are going fast) so I am still able to get a good look. Very exciting end to the stage, Chris Froome of Team Sky takes the stage, not after an attack 500m out from Cadel and Bradley Wiggins is now in yellow. Great day of traveling and great day of racing.



Day 9 (08/07) and time to move on again and given tis stage has 5 climbs in it and 3 quarters of the race in Switzerland, I make my way to Bondeval, a town about 20km into the stage. I was able to get a good spot on the side of the road to see the riders go through and like everywhere there were plenty of people out to see the race. My next hotel is in Beaune so I make my way there and was able to catch the end of the stage on TV. Thibaut Pinot wins the stage after a 20km solo effort and Bradley Wiggins holds onto yellow. This little town of Beaune is amazing, it blows my mind that places like this still exist! There are all of these cobbled lane ways that snake there way around the town centre, just wide enough for one car to make it down, but somehow the French mange to get two down them. The main attraction in the town is an old 15th century hospital (Hotel Dieu) and its colourful tiled roof. I hope to get there an have a look before I leave.

Day 10 (09/07) and I decide to spend the morning in Dijon (it's only half an hour away) and then go to the tour in the afternoon (it's an individual time trail stage so there will be riding all day). Dijon is a great little city, cobble stone streets towering stone buildings and as you guessed when in Dijon there must be mustard!!!! Around lunchtime I took the hour drive to Arc et Senan, or should I say tried to, to see the start of the last bunch of riders. On my way there a road block stopped me and a very nice policeman tried to explain to me in his broken English the way there through the back roads and 5 tiny towns. I thought I'd give it a go, even though I forgot the names of the last 3 towns he gave me. About 20 mins in I started see signs for Arc et Senan and got very proud of myself that I had managed to navigate my way there, until I realised I was passing things I did at the start. I had somehow done a huge loop and ended up back where I started (ha ha ha). With that I turned around and went back to the hotel to catch the last 15 riders take the course, the last 2 (Cadel and Bradley Wiggins) being of most interest. Bradley had a blinder of a run retaining the yellow and taking over a minute and a half on Cadel.

That is all for now. I join the tomorrow so I hope I will be able to see a little more of the places we are in to make the read a bit more exciting for those crazy non cyclist folk!!!

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