Blink and miss it…

After the Olympic road cycling race we also had the Tour of Britain cycling event come through the village, travelling in the opposite direction. It attracted a good group of residents to line the main road who were in a party atmosphere. The build up was slow as people reacted to anything that came up the road, the motorcycle escort helped to entertain us reacting with smiles and waves to the cheers as they drove through, and the Police switched on their sirens and lights to the delight of the kids.

The group of cyclists came more quietly into the village until the crowd spotted them and a huge roar of cheering spread along the road accompanying the tightly packed, lycra clad athletes, and in a matter of seconds they were all past us and off up the hill out of the village. In contrast the parade of brightly be-signed support vehicles sporting spare frames and wheels, other outriders, and a special ‘sweep’ van with brooms on it took ages to pass through as they queued up the hill for many minutes after the cyclists had long gone by.