Goin' up th'ill

Today was the second stage of The Tour. Earlier this year we had done a reconnaissance run over the Holme Moss climb which is very near to where my father lives.

Early in the morning we drove through the various former mill towns and villages to our free parking spot and unloaded the bikes for the rest of the trip. To say that it was busy as we reached the bottom of the climb would be an understatement - even by typical northern understatement! We cycled most of the way up then gave up where we found a good spot to stop and make camp.

After a few hours of sitting in the sun (and getting quite a tan) the caravan came through. Unlike yesterday most of the people around us were not tour followers, they were normal people out for the day so, the freebies came as a bit of a surprise for them - though they caught on pretty quickly!

Eventually the riders came though. Unlike yesterday's climb where the peloton was all in one bunch, the Moss broke them up quite a bit and they came though in clumps and I was able to get some better close up shots today. I like this one because of the angle I managed to get out of the picture.

After they had all gone we went down the hill, along with the other sixty thousand people. It was a lot faster going up the hill as it was so congested! As we reached the bottom it started to rain a bit, but that had the advantage of speeding people up so we were able to get back to our car a fraction quicker than otherwise.

Not that I'm on for admitting that Yorkshire is good at anything, but I must confess that they worked the with the Tour team to organise a very special event...

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