Tour de France 2014 in Yorkshire by Adrian Sluman
3 min read
I had decided it was about time I introduced my son, Ben, to the madness that is the Tour so we set off for Yorkshire on Friday with plans to watch stages 1 & 2. Leaving Friday after school, in the driving rain, I wasn’t looking forward to the journey! Lots of road works and congestion later we arrived just before 11. It was still lashing down so decided to sleep in the back of the car rather than pitch the tent, Ben thought this was very cool!
We had camped on the ‘camp on Holme moss’ campsite which in fact isn’t on Holme moss at all! it was good value and allowed us to walk to stage 2 and get in and out avoiding road closures so I was happy with it. We set off on Saturday morning to drive up to Skipton, I’d figured, in the interest of variation, we’d watch the race come through and then wander down to the spectator hub and watch Cav win on the big screen (We’ll that was the plan Cav!)
In Skipton, we walked onto a slight incline on the way out of town, and waited with the masses. I don’t know how many,but it was absolute chaos. While obviously you had cyclists like me who knew what was coming, I sensed that the majority had no idea what was about to hit them! The caravan came through, that in itself was superb, great for the kids, great showbiz I suppose, I think people began to understand this was a big deal! What was great was seeing so many kids walking up the road in cycling tops, all sorts of teams and clubs. We even had a man in a sheep outfit. The break came through with Jens on the front and I explained to Ben about ‘Shut up legs’ and how Jens was a bit of a legend and was in fact older than his dad! The peleton came through, sheer madness from the crowds again, brilliant!
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So we walked back down the road, with the thousands of others, despite one Skipton bobby trying to stem the flow of people. He gave up, this was the Tour!
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We watched the rest on the big screen, bit like watching the Olympics on box hill big screen, lots of anticipation and then no cigar, Cav hits the deck.. think it was all or nothing really, the rest of us may have settled for 5th or something and lived to fight another day, not Cav!
Mcd,s on the way back, Ben happy!
Stage 2.
We apparently had a half hour walk over to Holme moss from the site. About an hour and a half later we got to the S bends where I wanted to be! No problem, sooo many people, amazing atmosphere
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We had ‘Where’s Wally’, panda’s, kangaroo’s, sheep, a monkey and a big banana, obviously being chased by the monkey! Again so many kids having a go at riding up the hill, the crowds were going crazy , ALLEZ, ALLEZ encouraging the kids. The Caravan comes through, didn’t matter we saw it yesterday it’s still cool. What else makes grown men run and fight over wristbands, caps, blow up guitars!
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The leaders came through, looking pretty shot, about to be swept up by the bunch. The top boys were up the front, Froome, Nibali, Contador
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Kittel had gone, but was fighting hard.
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And then that’s it , it’s gone, whoosh! No big screen this time just the walk back. Reckon we must have walked 5 difficult miles, tiring, yes, but en-route back Ben says “Shut up legs!” he’s learning! I think he gets the tour now!
North of England resembled a car park and we went nowhere for three hours and eventually got home at midnight. Knackered!
Ben went to school today sporting his TdF wristbands and polka dot cap, say no more!
Adrian Sluman
