Wrexham County Borough 84 - The womens race comes to town .

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I don't know what it is about my home town but I keep finding things to do and see . A trip to town today meant hanging around while the driver went for his eyes tested . I knew I had some time on my hands as the opticians are never on time calling you in . The test seems to take forever . The photographs of behind the eyes , the puffer tests to check for glaucoma and picking glasses seem to take a lifetime . The waiting gave me chance to wander round the quiet streets with phone in hand looking for things to photograph .

It never takes me long to find something I have not spotted before . It might be the thatched roof of the Horse and Jockey pub , the displays in shop windows or just the people wandering round . It is whatever takes my fancy . I never discount anything . Take the photograph, take it home and discard it if it is not worth keeping . That is the way I think . I know too I can get a coffee whilst I people watch .



There is music coming from the streets.. The streets are cordoned off . No traffic today . There seems much more hustle and bustle . Police walking the streets . Motorcycles lined up . Riders standing by . I had little idea what was going on but I would soon find out . At the end of the street on Queens Square there was a huge inflatable stage . You know the sort you see at the presentations on the Tour de France . This one was erected for the start of the Womens Cycle tour . Todays stage began in the town centre , worked its way down Town Hill (should that be renamed City Hill now we are a city ?) , up Pen y Bryn and headed out on the Ruabon Road to Welshpool eventually . Music was blaring out , I could hear Italian being spoken . There was the usual array of outriders on bikes who would pave a way for the ladies to ride along . They would part the crowds who were by now gathering by the barriers . The support cars had bikes on their roof . It had a continental feel . I walked back to meet the driver after his eye test . All OK just another visit next week to pick glasses up . We headed back in the direction of the music and the loudspeakers .

Each ladies team was ushered to the stage and the MC introduced each member . This went on for some time whilst we sat in the small but perfectly formed Gerrards Cafe . It all felt very odd and with my eyes closed I could almost be in France watching the Tour or the Giro d'Italia in Italy . We stayed for a while watching the ladies come and go and eventually left them to it on their long cycle ride down to Mid Wales .

An interesting day . It is not every day that the bike race comes to town .

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