Tour de France.
Our first Tour de France event for this year was at the Team trial on the Day 2. We received a phone call the night before from Guy an English guy we met in Portugul who wanted to do a stage of the “tour” and ended up deciding to meet us there almost last minute. We worked out where we should meet and as he got there before us he saved us a place in a nice side road where there were a lot of other campers, other English, German, French and then us Aussies. It was a friendly place and we all got on pretty well. Guy and Fran had become friendly with the other English fans so we were welcomed straight away and brought into the group.
The highlights of this stage are: Englishman “Rusty” (a tour veteran and “fanatic”) getting everyone involved in painting SKY on the road three times, holding up the traffic and the drinks afterwards.
Meeting a young Aussie couple on their 5 month honeymoon, rented a camper for the “Tour” and ended up being interviewed by a French TV station for a lifestyle program. Good luck to them.
Ewout in Koala suit being photographed for tour highlights pictures, and being seen on many websites. Even found a photo in the French paper “Aujourd’hui” on their Tour results page. Cool.
Enjoying the antics of a couple of crazy young Frenchmen who drank a lot & dressed up and loved trying to banter with the english speakers.
Ewout taking a ride on the back of Guy’s scooter dressed up as the Koala holding a Team Sky banner along the route before the race and into town getting much attention and stopping traffic. (see Team Sky facebook page: photo gallery)
Ewoud and Martin arriving during the day, who took the long drive from Holland to come and join us for a few days of the “tour”.
The second day for us was on the side of the road in the Brittany region, this part of the tour was mainly on the busy secondary roads and although we found a reasonable spot it was quite busy with trucks and cars going past all night.
This place was the first time we have come across “Le Diablo” (the devil) famous at the “Tour” for his antics. Our first encounter with him was as he walked past, dressed in his devil outfit and tried to talk to us in german. We weren’t sure if it was really him or a copy as he seemed a bit “out of it” and wandered past not sure what he was doing.
Ewout decide to get a photo with him when he came by the next day and he was much friendlier and eager to be photographed.
The third day found us in the smaller hillyier countryside on a narrow road surrounded by farmland. We had trouble finding a spot off the road as there were a lot of ditches and not much room on the side of the road. We eventually found a place, a little sloping but with our hydraulic legs this is not a problem and we were set for the night and day.
Highlights of this stage: Ewout as the Koala a hit with the locals who were having a bbq. just next to us. The Devil deciding that the Koala was good for more photo’s and posed no threat to his “celebrity”. Riding our bikes into the local town to see the decorations and local’s enjoying themselves.
We had a “rest” day from the Tour on the Wednesday and decided to drive up to Mont St Michel so that Ewoud & Martin could see the town. On the way we were driving along and saw a couple with suitcases trying to hitch a lift, I noticed that they got quite exited when they saw us but it was a bad spot to stop and turn around and so by the time we discussed the wisdom of picking up hitchhikers, the possibility of them being Aussies and finding a spot to stop and turn we were a little way along. We made the decision to go back as they looked harmless, “so was Bonnie & Clyde” (my remark) and thought it would be time for a good deed. They were ecstatic, they had missed their local bus to the next town because of a misread time table and they had to get to St Brieuc to catch the train to Paris and another to Dusseldorf where they were going to visit the family where daughter stayed on a school visit. They were Aussies from Sydney, who had been in Paris for a conference as he is an eye doctor and they wanted to see a bit of the Tour de France while on their travels. So we were going in that direction and it was nice to be able to help someone out and meet some new people. Well we now have a contact if we need eye surgery (just Medicare costs) as long as it’s a disease not just corrective surgery.
So with many thanks and a vacuum pack of Macadamia nuts we left them near the train station and headed on towards Mont St Michel.
We decided to stop on the way for lunch at a Pancake restaurant for lunch, we had stopped here a couple of years ago and enjoyed the service and meal. We all had a nice lunch served with local cider. Very different crepes/pancakes, served with an egg in the middle, bacon or ham, fried onions or apple sauce. Yum!
On then to walk off our lunch at the local tourist town perched on a small island just off the coast, Mont Saint-Michel is a rocky tidal island and a commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometre off the country’s north coast with a population of the island of about 40. Very narrow windy roads, filled with tourist shops, restaurants and cafes. The Abbey at the top of the hill is main attraction but very expensive to visit, we gave this a miss and walked around the ramparts to enjoy the views and take photos. It came up a bit windy in the afternoon and as it was getting a bit late decided to leave to find our spot to park for the next days tour de France stage and our last. It was decided to find a spot closer to the beginning this time as we have had to wait until late afternoon the last few, that way we can pack up early, get on the road, Martin & Ewoud to Holland and Ewout and I to make our way to Germany to meet our German friends for the weekend,
We found a spot just outside a small village and were surprised to find that we were the only ones there until the next morning. It was a quiet spot which was good for us to get some sleep and then get set up for the next day.
Highlights of the day: The peloton went past slowly and we heard some english voices saying Hello.
Koala had photo taken by Australian photographer going past in car. Gave out our last mini Koalas to the local children, over 100 given out over all the stages. Being given traditional Normandy pudding dessert after the race by a local.
Although it can be busy driving around to find good places to park for the Tour de France and we have stopped late some nights, tired and (me) irritable, I should say that it is a good experience and that it is a highlight of our travels in Europe. Sharing the time with Ewoud and Martin has been a bonus, some late nights spent playing dice helps to pass the time and they have taken on the Aussie flag flying with enthusiasm.
So we leave France for the long drive to Germany where we have arranged to meet our German friends for a weekend of camping, drinking, talking, drinking, laughing, drinking….you get the picture.
