Le Tour de Kent

With Brett and Belinda over from Germany (via Ireland), we nipped over to the other side of the country to catch Stage 1 of the Tour de France, as it passed through Kent near John's Granny. Brett and John, as keen cyclists and former BRW Corporate Triathlon team-mates, were very keen to see some top-flight cycling, and the first TdF on English soil in 20 years was too good an opportunity to miss! We had originally planned on spectating near the finish line in Canterbury, but word got out that half-a-million-plus people had descended on that fair town, meaning we might have to lower our sights a little.

Johnny's Auntie Lizzie had a great suggestion - to quote:

"over in Goudhurst, there's a bit of road with a really sharp left followed by a really sharp right, with walls on each side - should be great for crashes!".

Ahem. Still, it did sound like a good spot. However consultation of the day's paper showed that Goudhurst Hill was the scene of the second King of the Mountains stage and thus would likely be very busy. We parked our car about a mile from Goudhurst and soon discovered this was very much the case. In the end, we just plonked ourselves on a nice but of country road outside Goudhurst and waited. The caravane whistled past for more than two hours - hundreds of French and English police cars, motorbikes, strangely-shaped promotional vehicles, and numerous trucks booming out French techno and blaring out heavily-accented "'ello evrybodee!"s in every direction.



While Brett and I held our prime shaded position by the roadside, the girls moseyed 100m down the road to a pub that was probably having its busiest day in 300 years, and came back loaded up with crisps, softies and cider. Top work ladies!

Finally the riders arrived - there was a breakaway group of 5 riders, who whistled past at about 45 km/h, chatting casually to each other! Five minutes later, the peloton screamed past, a sea of ludicrously-loud lycra, extremely-expensive equipment, and freakishly-fit fellows. And then it was all over.



Well for us at least. The riders still had a very long way to go. But huge congratulations must go to my old Eltham High School buddy Cadel Evans for coming SECOND OVERALL (and in many hearts, FIRST) - a truly heroic effort!