Temporary Nomad

Last month I took a day off to travel way down to the south of The Netherlands to see stage 3 of this year’s Tour de France end in Valkenburg. After a 3.5 hour train journey from Delft I arrived in Valkenburg with about 1.5 hours to spare. I made my way to the Cauberg and set myself up on a slope looking down over the road. It was hot day by Dutch standards (32C) but that didn’t seem to stop half of the country also standing on the Cauberg.

First to arrive was the publicity caravan. This bizarre sight takes almost an hour to pass by, with lots of novelty floats advertising things I’d mostly never heard of. Or only ever heard of in connection with the Tour. What this orange devil thing was advertising I have no idea:

Strange French advertising at Le Tour 2006

I was lucky enough to snag a handy cotton shoulder bag from Le Crédit Lyonnais, which is currently doing service carrying Mike’s breakfast items on his climbing trip in the Peak District.

At last, after all the giant foam recycling bins had passed by the real event was on. And we knew exactly when to expect them. First the helicopters were buzzing in the distance, then suddenly they were almost overhead – then came the motorbikes and finally, the riders were swishing past. I had no idea who anyone was, and despite it being a category 3 climb they whizzed by too fast to have any idea who was in the lead.

But at least I had a chance to snap some blurry pictures as they went by:

Caisse D’epargne-Illes Balears Team going up cauberg

Riders on the Cauberg