I couldn't seem to get a handle on what time the Tour de France was supposed to arrive in La Roche yesterday so around lunchtime I thought I should head on down into town. I couldn't have gone up to Glières or La Clusaz if I had wanted to as the roads were closed off and only the already-fully-booked shuttle buses were allowed in, so on foot it would have to be. And it was hot! After about 20 minutes I ran into a young girl who was manning one of the barricades across the road and asked her about timings. When she told me that one of the media vans had just gone past and they were expecting the peloton in town anywhere between 5-6 p.m. I thought "nope, I'm not going to hang around in town for the next five hours", so I walked back into the village and decided to have lunch in our one-and-only restaurant. My friend always refers to this place as "the restaurant that's never open" because it did indeed seem to be closed half the time. Now I don't know if it has changed hands or if the owners have had to pull their fingers out to make up for the covid closures, but now it seems to be constantly open. The owner's wife runs another restaurant further up the mountain so I guess they will have been hard hit by the lockdown!
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| The village school - now up and running again! |
So I sat and ate lunch while reading the Michael Cohen book, and you know what, I'm actually enjoying it! He pretty much admits he was a slimeball and doesn't appear to be making excuses for himself, but he writes well and it is, of course, quite a story he has to tell! After killing a good hour or so I decided to walk back down into town - about a 30 minute walk but boy was it hot! This is when it started to get busier - people were out walking to "their spot" along the road to watch the arrival and everybody and his uncle who had a bike seemed to be cycling to better vantage points too! When I got to town everything was ok - it wasn't overly crowded as yet (I'd say people were more lining the roads then congregating in town) and it was fun! I think that's why I prefer living in France to Switzerland actually (where I lived for six years). They know how to have fun. Sure they sometimes go over the top but it seems to me that they also like to have a good time and do it well!
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| Picture from Le Dauphiné |
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| Leaving the Plâteau de Glières - picture from Le Dauphiné |
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| La Roche - picture taken from the Tourist Office website |
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| Le Pont Neuf - arrival into town |
God, when I think I have trouble walking down to town (and even more trouble walking back up home), I can't even begin to understand how these young men can cycle up mountains in this heat, all the more so since it's now September (and obviously cooler) and the original race had been planned for July! I guess that explains the constant whirring of helicopter blades overhead though!
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| They always decorate the traffic islands! |
So despite the fact that I had to slog my way back uphill to get home, I have to say it was a fun time. Like I said, I'm not that into cycling (I don't even know who's top of the leader board!!!) but I had a pretty good time (and a couple of glasses of wine to complete what was a rather nice afternoon)! The icing on the cake though was when I got home the postman had dropped off the results of my French test that I had to sit for my citizenship and I got a C2 - a good pass! So that's one more thing crossed off my seemingly never-ending to do list!
Congratulations on your result and surely joining the party for Le Tour is a rite of passage and has to count towards citizenship.
ReplyDeleteOh I never thought of it that way. When (IF!!!) I ever get my citizenship interview I'll have to casually drop that into the conversation (but look up who won beforehand right?)!
DeleteI'm glad you had fun!! The Tour is the most watched sporting event in the world. Every year more countries have cyclists on the teams. I'm trying to ride 2500 miles in a year, those cyclists are riding 2700 nukes in 27 days. I'm sure the party atmosphere was much tamed down this year because of Covid!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure riding 100 km/day would even phase these guys BUT up mountains??? Even assuming I could do it that heat would kill me. And yes the party was good although people did keep their distances, wore masks and so on, so I hope everyone is all right!
DeleteI always try to go have fun even if I am not a fan of whatever is happening. All that looks like you had a good time. If I had to walk further than the mailbox, I would be in trouble.
ReplyDeleteI think Steve got it right when he said "say yes to everything", all the more so since he died three years after retiring, and just eight months after receiving his State pension. He was a party animal so I'm so glad he packed as much as he did into his time!
DeleteHow Fun! I watch occasionally, have no idea of the scoring either, but yea, the fitness. Hopefull these days they ae all extra juice free. Congrats on the test.
ReplyDeleteSadly I think the doping ruins it for the legitimate athletes, as in any sport, but then I suppose big money talks doesn't it! But yep, it was fun!
DeleteIve been following the tour on the tv. You certainly live in a beautiful part of the world. BTW Kwiatowski won you stage!
ReplyDeleteI looked it up later and watched a few clips of the race but I really don't know who the stars are. Still, it's a lovely atmosphere!
DeleteYes! Congratulations on your test!
ReplyDeleteI could no more do that than I could bike up a mountain. Or walk up a mountain. I think you're pretty spectacular.
Ha, you should see what a bloody mess I am by the time I've finished walking, but I'm a stubborn sod so I keep going. The other thing is, round here it's normal to walk like that and the "oldies" have been doing it all their lives so they bounce up the bloody mountains (viz. my 80+ year old neighbour still cycling up the forestry roads). I guess it really is a question of what you're used to - and I'm certainly not used to this I promise!
DeleteWoohoo! Dual citizenship around the corner. I bet you're in pretty good shape with all your uphill walks.I'm about to have a wine myself.
ReplyDeleteNope and nope. Conservatively I reckon at least another 3 years until citizenship looms. It seems to be taking at least 15 months to get your initial interview, and that's without covid, and then there's another interview after that. And while I feel my legs getting stronger I'm not losing any weight. Oh I lose 6 lbs and then I gain them back so I reckon it's time to get serious about that too. But I'm with you on the wine (of course)!
DeleteCongratulations on the test score!
ReplyDeleteI've never watch the Tour de France other than the time I told you about on the quiet road, but it did look like it would be fun. I think things like this usually are. We went to watch the Olympic flame runner go through our town when it was in UK and the atmosphere was lovely. Everyone was happy and chatting and the flame went past in a flash but it was worth it for the atmosphere.
You'll be fit as a fiddle by the time you're a bona fide citizen! xx
You're right, I think the atmosphere is worth going for anyway, whether the actual event interests you or not - and of course the organizers put so much effort into it too, to be fair. As for being fit when I become French, I reckon that now gives me two years to lose 30-40 lbs then right?
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