Framedlight

Alan has long wanted to cycle the Col du Galibier, a stunning piece of road, steep and reaching an altitude of 2,645m. It is a fabled road in the Tour de France and the winner of this stage is given a special award, the 'Souvenir Henri Desgrange', the man who inaugurated the Tour. There is a statue of him near the top which I managed to miss entirely. Setting out from Valloire, on the D902 still, we found a convenient place to park and Alan got kitted up and started to ride. I decided to drive to the top and meet him there which gave me opportunities to stop en route and take photographs. It is always a little hair raising driving the van on narrow roads with steep bends, although it was pretty quiet and the only main obstacle was an old French diesel van full of sheep which chugged and fumed it's way up, which I eventually overtook. The Galibier col lies between the Massif d'Arvan-Villards and the Massif des Cerces in the Dauphiné Alps. I stayed in our parking spot a...

Great excitement yesterday for the passing of the Tour through Essex. We had Alan's cousins Graeme and Caroline staying with us with their son Jamie, a keen cyclist who is competing in a national youth track event next weekend. After much consultation we thought that the A11 roundabout near Great Chesterford would be the best place to pitch. The boys cycled over and Caroline and I took the car about 10.00am with chairs and a ladder to sit/stand on. Jamie used the ladder. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, just comfortable, with a great carnival spirit.  First a caravan of floats came through and various items were thrown out including an Ibis plastic pillow which unfortunately hit Caroline in the eye, but no lasting damage! Then there was a bit of a hiatus as team cars came past including David Brailsford in the Sky Jag. A rather scruffy cameraman walked down on the opposite side of the road but did not deem us of sufficient interest. I got into my place for photography, feelin...