Tour De France

It’s been a tiring - though not over long day today. We managed an hour in the gym before having an early lunch and then heading off to Chester to see mum. Unfortunately there was a lot of stop start traffic on the M6, so we didn’t have that long with mum before we had to head back north towards Lytham, where this evening’s entertainment was taking place at the Lowther Pavilion. Traffic was heavy, but kept moving, so we were there in time for something to eat before the show started.
We saw Ned Boulting almost exactly two years ago when he brought his last show to the North West. Back then, he talked about the history of the Tour and, more specifically, the 2022 race.
This time he talked about a project he had started in lockdown, when he acquired a mysterious film of what turned out to be a stage on the 1923 Tour. He managed to identify various people in the film and told their stories. At the same time, he linked their experiences and actions to more recent Tours. Whilst a lot has obviously changed in one hundred years, it was fascinating how some facets are still with us. He also referenced other people and events from 1923 - Hitler’s beer hall putsch for example!
But the main focus was on a rider he eventually identified after a great deal of research, who appeared in the film making a break from the peloton. Not only did he tell his story, but he had actually tracked down and met his direct descendants. A fascinating account both of this hitherto unknown cyclist’s life and the work Ned put in to discover the stories behind some of the personalities he’d identified in this small piece of film.
An interesting evening and we were even home by 11. As I said, not an overly long day but I’m definitely ready for my bed now!