Cycling excitement!

We awoke to grey skies and fog today, so very Autumnal, but not ideal for the Tour of Britain cycle event due to take place in Northamptonshire today!

I was looking forward to watching the cyclists flash past but had no idea whether the route near us would be busy or not! I found live coverage on ITVx and saw that only a few people were watching in the rural spots, but it was a lot busier in the villages.

We watched the Tour speed through the southern villages and then make its way nearer to us. Before we went, I prepared tonight's dinner of sausage casserole and accompanying vegetables, and sympathised with Sophie, who felt a little hungover after the cocktails and wine from last night!

We left the house at 1pm and drove towards Scaldwell. The Tour was due to flash past Harrington, skim the outskirts of Lamport and then travel down towards us, taking a particularly sharp bend to Scaldwell. As we approached the bend, we could see cars parked on the verges and a huddle of people gathered on the bend, some sitting on picnic chairs! We were a little dismayed, so we drove on and soon found a field entrance where we parked the car, halfway down a long winding hill. We were delighted to find this was the 25km to go sign!

We had about an hour to kill until the Tour sped past us, so Sophie and I went for a little walk into the fields and followed a by-way up to the top of a hill to look at the views. It was still misty and grey but humid.

Keith sat in the car reading the paper until it got nearer the time for the Tour to go past and then he joined us. Within half an hour of our arrival, the first security out-riders began to go past on motorbikes, and we waved at them. They were delighted to wave back! As well as the security motorbikes, we saw many, many police bikes, most of whom waved to us or sounded their sirens! I suppose these were going past to make sure there were no obstacles in the road. In the villages, nobody was allowed to park cars on the road to ensure the Tour had a smooth journey.

More and more vehicles drove past and one slowed down past the sign and we could hear a man commentating, which was exciting! The atmosphere was fantastic and nobody had joined us in our little spot so we had it all to ourselves! As the time grew near, we saw one of the support cars drive past laden with spare cycles and then, a little while later, the three leading riders zoomed past accompanied by a motorbike carrying a camera.

There was a short hiatus and then the peloton sped past, followed by a huge array of support vehicles, police cars, motorbikes and ambulances. It was a tremendous, and truly fantastic experience to see how well-organised everything was!

The Peloton in pursuit of the leading three!

I was so glad we'd decided to watch. To have the Tour of Britain pass so close to where we live was brilliant and I believe the turnout across the county was outstanding! It was so good to wave and cheer and to have all the drivers wave back, some sounding the sirens and adding to the atmosphere!

Once they had all streamed past, we were able to return home and we made our way slowly back to the village. A lot more people had arrived to watch the race, so the spot on the bend was obviously popular!

Back home we realised, to our delight, that the Tour De France starts in Lille next year, on the 5th of July, the day we will be travelling back to Calais. To watch this race would be amazing so we are planning on trying to catch it while we can!

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly, and there was a bit of snoozing involved! We played cards in the evening and enjoyed the rich sausage casserole I'd prepared in the morning. Our viewing pleasure this evening was The Pink Panther, the original 1963 film starring Peter Sellers. We were a little disappointed, to be honest... it wasn't that funny and the ending seemed a little rushed!