The hype has arrived in full - this year's Tour de France cycle race began in London (not quite in France, but close enough...) and what with previews, time trials and official openings it has been completely over the top. The race proper started just a couple of miles from my home. I didn't go.
Twice during the 1980s I was in Paris at the time of the end of the race, and it was a real pain. If you wanted to cross the road you had to walk and walk until you found a Metro (underground) station with entrances on both sides. The second time I had taken my mum for her first (and only) stay in foreign climes. Before that we did a couple of day trips to Boulogne and Calais. By the time I took her to Paris Mum was nearly 70 and her tranquillisers made her very unsteady on her feet. Paris is full of cobbles and if I didn't hang on to her arm every step of the way she was in danger of falling. Versailles was the worst - a whole courtyard of them to cross before you even got to the entrance. But we had a great time, and mum never forgot about it till her marbles started to roll away more than a decade later.
Since when did they start this race in Englad? Do they ride thru the Chunnel or something?
ReplyDeleteEngland. Not Englad.
ReplyDeleteI love Le Tour for 2 reasons: it makes me proud to be certaing that Vincent would never be able to pack his endowment in shorts so tight, and the stamina required to cycle up various mountain ranges(a truly bizarre idea) makes me ashamed I'm so ridiculously unfit. Sadly, I didn't get home until last night, so I missed seeing the prologue in Londinium on Saturday, though I caught a little of yesterday's stage.
ReplyDeletecertaing? I've obviously learnt a new Northumbrian-style way of spelling ;0)
ReplyDeleteJoJo, every now and then the race has a stage in a foreign country. It's been in Britain before, but I don't think it often starts abroad. And it's never been to London before.
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea it had a stage in another country!
ReplyDelete