Thursday, July 24, 2008

tour de france


We helped Mini-B pick his 20 tonnes of potatoes yesterday morning - starting at 7 o' clock. There were about 25 of us, mostly Mini-B's relatives, so it didn't take too long and his mum went up and down the row every time the tractor passed two or three times with a little wicker basket containing a choice of refreshing drinks - pastis or white wine! At 9 o'clock we all stopped for casse-croûte of sausages and lard (the fatty bits of bacon you'd cut off and discard) with bread and cheese and white wine followed by bugnes and red wine.

In the afternoon, BB and I and our pal the Duchess went off on the motorbikes to the Col du Glandon to watch the Tour de France riders as they passed over the Col de la Croix de Fer - their second major Alpine col of the day. It was sunny and warm with not a cloud in the sky, and sitting on the back of BB's bike wearing my iPod, it was like being in a road movie with my own personal soundtrack. When we got to the top of the col, the meadows were full of people picnic-ing while waiting for the riders to pass. Some people turn up hours before on the popular routes so that they can get parked and get a good spot, but we were able to park the bikes about 400 metres from the road and only had a 15 minute wait - which was just as well because when the riders did arrive it was all over in less than two minutes!

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