After a leisurely breakfast, it was time to ride to explore the town and the Stage course.
This included a ride of the last 6km or so of the course. It met with John’s approval. Given that he didn’t have to do any of the climbs today, that approval didn’t really mean much.
But Rel and John did contest their own stage finish.
Here Narelle chases John down with less than a km to go
It was then time to prepare for the afternoon. A wander around the village for lunch, and then find a spot by the side of the course. Found a good spot about 170m from the finish. Excellent. Only 4 hours til they arrive. :-0
The big screen was just visible but the angle meant it was hard to read any of the words.
We had a front row spot and thought that would be the end of our troubles.
Turns out that if you leave a 3 cm gap, others think that is enough for them to squeeze in.
Generally all was fine, expect when the handouts came. Then the pushing in the back started.
One old guy actually tried every trick in the book to squeeze in beside Narelle. She was too tough and wise for him.
Some tricks he tried included :-
push the hand onto the fence and just force himself into a non existent gap
Coughing and spluttering in the hope that Narelle would give way
Loudly yelling abuse at Narelle for not letting him in. This was a time when it was good to not know French.
Eventually he left when he realised that Narelle was not going to give in.
Then it was John’s turn to outlast the thumps and shoves in the back, the knees into the back of the legs, the arms that came in every direction trying to get handouts.
Makes it all fun and interesting.
This time we weren’t really trying to collect much, but still came home with about 8 bottles of mineral water, numerous hats, fridge magnets, and other equally essential goods.
But we had more fun interacting with the people giving out stuff. Turns out asking people for photos is a fun way to get more stuff.
Narelle made a new friend
John made a new friend
The riders flashed by, but at least they arrived in several groups. The first riders and the first bunch were flying. Those in the autobus (or the last group) were pedalling much softer.
Ricco heads for victory
Then it was time to wander home. It was like walking home from State of Origin. The crowds and the traffic were thick. It took nearly 2 hours after the finish for the traffic to ease in front of our home base. It was an awesome day, but very tiring all the same.
We’ll stay in Bagnerres De B tonight and tomorrow we’ll ride part way up the first col, so we can then watch them ride up a mountain.
We’ve decided this next stage will be our last direct taste of the tour until we join a formal tour for Stage 19 through to the finish in Paris.
It means missing the Alps, but there is so much else to explore of France, and so much more bread, cheese and wine that we haven’t even touched the surface of yet.
We’ll just make sure we are somewhere to watch the last hour of each day’s stage.
The reformulation of our path has begun, but has yet to be worked out in detail.
Tonight’s episode is sponsored by a delightful red by the name of ‘Domain du Grand Bouqueteau’ that we picked up in Chinon.
Very smooth.
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