You may have heard that we have had the most exciting of weekends here in Yorkshire as we hosted "Le Grand Depart" of the famous bike rave the "Tour de France".
On Saturday after our walk around the city, Becky and I camped in the Peace Gardens with the crowds to watch the big screen version of the race that had started in North Yorkshire. Hubby had the more exciting job of accompanying the tour on a police motorcycle.
The city was buzzing and the atmosphere was electric.
We had popped into the Cather=dral and looked at the knotted covered bikes on display in there.
My favourite was the Whippet and flat cap!!
Then on Sunday, I took myself off very early doors to Grenoside - a couple of miles from home, where the tour was going to be passing through.
I arrived stupidly early (9.10am!!) but I didn't want to miss anything. The Brownies and Scouts kept us well fed all day!
Crowds gathered and increased in numbers as the days went by.
When I first arrived at my spot, there were only 3 more people there, so I introduced myself and discovered that one had set off at 5.30 am from Stoke, and the others had emigrated to South Africa 35 years ago from Sheffield and had come back for a visit purely for the race. At 10am, we were joined by 4 lovely ladies to my left who lived nearby. We all got along famously - one of the ladies gave us her house key to use her loo when required! We felt like we had a bit of a wartime spirit about us! These lovely people made my day - they were great. I was also in touch by text with friends and bloggy friend
Lyn (at Everyday life) who were a little ahead of me on the track - so I knew when to expect the riders.
I didn't take many photo's of the race as I got so caught up in it - I took a video that won't upload here for some reason, but I can tell you it was thrilling! We were on a sharp right hand bend at the bottom of a long downhill slope so they really "whooshed" by us!
The crowds loved it.
I don't know if you caught any of the coverage on TV, but the crowds that turned up to cheer on the cyclists were immense - I think it took the promoters by surprise. Every inch of the route was lined by people getting totally into the spirit of the race. The weather held off and the views along the whole of the route was truly spectacular. The guy who had the brilliant idea to invite the race to Yorkshire will have done wonders for the Yorkshire tourist board - the commentators on TV all said that they didn't realise that Yorkshire was so beautiful. They obviously have never read my blog!
8 comments:
You obviously had a great time!!! I love the crochet bikes. Although I have seen some other posts I hadn't seen those, so yes, I agree, the commentators should definitely read your blog as you obviously find the parts that other people miss!! xx
I am in love with the whippet! You certainly found yourself a good spot to watch the race along with some lovely people too, but that's no surprise as you as so lovely too!
How fab that Mr H got to participate too!
Lisa x
Well, shame on them for not reading your blog, Diane! Yes, Sheffield really got Le Tour fever, loads of people went to see it. Sounds like you had a great time! xxx
You got a good spot for the action and the spectator atmosphere. Wondered whether hubby was involved. I'm following the French Stages live on itv4 (yesterday and on again today) but nothing compares with seeing the real event on the streets of Sheffield.
Wow what an exciting time you have had. We saw a little of it on the news. How can anyone not know how beautiful Yorkshire is???
I was glued to the TV all day! I am so pleased the UK and Yorkshire in particular came up trumps with the huge crowds and enormous enthusiasm and cheerfulness! How did your husband get on with the motorcycle? Some of the crowds were a bit daft up on the really steep climbs, I thought!
Too right they obviously hadn't read your blog!
It was so grand I loved it, I loved the atmosphere and the spirit of the crowd and the organisation was next to none....we even made sure the weather was good...the French didn't organise their weather did they! Xxxx
I couldn't agree more, it was amazing and a delight to be part of such a wonderful event. Now everyone knows why we love Yorkshire, the landscape and the people.
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