A Big Day on the Willy/Metcalfe calendar for the year today........off to see the Tour de France!!
Stage 5 of the Tour (or TDF as it seems to be called by professional fans - in other words, most of the French population, who consider themselves experts on the subject) was due to whizz past about 6k from the house, so we couldn't not go, could we?!
Preparations began several days beforehand - Lew and I went out on our bikes to scope out the best viewing spot, armed with helpful advice from past expert spectators: gentle uphill gradient, so the riders are a bit slower; straight stretch of road so you can see them coming; not in a village - too many people and therefore statistically less chance of picking up the freebies that are thrown out.
Having picked our spot, we set off, armed with sandwiches, water, book to read (you'll see why in a minute!), sunscreen and hat, and...........NZ flag to cheer on the 2 Kiwi riders on the Tour.
We set up on a bank, at an intersection with the Tour route. Plenty of gendarmes (police) in evidence, stopping numerous cars trying to get through - warning signs of the closure have been up for weeks, plus a large sign and barrier on the road, but still they came!
During the course of the day we witnessed the true colours of your French gendarme. None of your friendly neighbourhood bobby here, the French police are obviously trained to be as scary as possible, and we saw lots of screaming at drivers, blowing of whistles, furious arm waving, and an impressive selection of hard stares that reduced the offending child and adult alike to a quivering wreck.
Anyway, back to the fun part. For those not familiar with the Tour - sorry, TDF - the race itself is preceded by the "caravan", a procession of bizarre and entertaining sponsor's vehicles. They cruise by about 2 hours before the riders come through, blaring loud music, waving madly, and hurling free samples of products into the enthusiastically waiting crowd! Hence the need to position yourself strategically amongst the crowd, so you are in prime position to elbow all others out of the way and dive on as many spoils as possible!
Here they come......
Wave your arms around, jump up and down, and you might get a packet of fluorescent sweets...
Not sure what came out of this vehicle...
Here's the French state-controlled betting system PMU...
And the local supermarket chain...
Bear in mind that these vehicles drive the full length of every stage - today they had to go 252 k....
Our haul? A cap, three packets of sweets, a rubber bracelet that will get us a free baguette, a sachet of washing powder and.....a condom! Not too sure how the parents explained that one to the kids at the end of the lolly scramble.
Excitement over with, you then have a couple of hours to kill before the riders come through. Time to talk to your neighbours, go for a walk, or amuse yourself in some other way.
Gradually, there are signs of activity as the riders approach. Various cars come whizzing past, multiple gendarmes on motorbikes, and of course, the VIP's in their helicopters.
As you can see, Lew was wondering whether anyone would notice if he hopped in and got a lift to the finish line.
And suddenly, here they are!
Is that it? Six riders? All that fuss for six of you? Where are the rest? Having a quick glass of red and a cigarette in Lorgues?
A long 8 minutes later, the peleton arrives...
Passes....
And leaves.....
So, three hours gone by, we had ticked a big box on the to-do list: seen the Tour AND got a free condom, what more could we ask for from a day out in France?!?
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