Day 3-July 4

I love Yorkshire...one of the best travel secrets in Europe.  We're having an absolutely fabulous time, and I definitely want to come back here!

Followed the same schedule today as yesterday.  Up at 8, yummy breakfast at 9, and on the road by 10.  Our hosts served us pancakes this morning, along with the eggs, ham, toast, tomatoes, etc.  They commented how hard it was to get real maple syrup, so we gave them a quart from the Stroup's farm in Sugar Hill.  They were thrilled.

We spent our day traveling along the routes that the Tour will follow on both Saturday and Sunday.   As we sped along the country roads toward our first stop, we passed the  nine riders from French Cofidis Cycling Team who were out getting in their last training run.  As we passed them Joni rolled down her window and shouted, "allez, allez, allez" and one of the riders yelled back, but we couldn't decipher what he said. It was reminiscent of a scene from "Breaking Away".

Around 11, we arrived in Skipton, a town of 15,000, through which the Tour will pass through twice.  So Tour fever was in full bloom, a huge yellow t-shirt on the castle, flags and banners in every store front, and even shop windows painted with special Tour scenes.  The British are clearly very excited about hosting the Tour and are sparing nothing in celebrating this event.

We stopped for scones, tea and coffee at the Cafe 76, an appropriate place to snack on the 4th of July.  Joni's been dying for a real scone and a pot of tea for months, and this top rated cafe met her expectations.  I must admit the scone was pretty good, and I"m not a fan of scones either. After a little souvenir hunting, we returned to the car following the route of the Tour to Grassington, a tiny village in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  This area is great for cycling; rolling hills, beautiful scenery, and not too much traffic.  

Despite the light drizzle, we stopped repeatedly to snap photos.  From Grassington, we survived some incredibly narrow roads and arrived in the village of Burnsall, also in the National Park, and even tinier than Grassington.  It seemed like the majority of diners at the Red Lion Inn, where we stopped for lunch, were cyclists, most of whom were lingering longer than normal to get out of the rain.  Beer, burgers, and pudding were our choice from their extensive menu, and our string of  outstanding meals in Britain continued.

After lunch we drove just a few miles to Barden Tower, an structure that is best described as "more than a tower, but not quite a castle" near Burnsall.  Our B&B hosts said weddings are often hosted here, and it was easy to imagine this as a great place for such functions.  At this point we were now heading back to Knareborough, driving by Bolton Abbey, where we learned David Beckham was staying, and stopping in the village of Pately Bridge for some serious craft shopping.  Nothing was a must have, however, so our only purchase was 1/2 a tank of gas.  How  boring.

Continuing our return to  the B&B we stopped to hike around  Brimham Rocks, which are mammoth  sculptures that were created over 300 million years ago.  That's really old and they were fascinating; too hard to describe, so that's why I took a few pictures.

Lastly, we stopped in Ripley, to see if Kate and Wills wanted to go out for a cup of tea with us.  They were busy, but we got to get a peek through the gates of Ripley Castle, a private home, where they are staying for the Tour.  

We returned to the B&B, showered, and then after several turn downs, got a reservation for dinner at BED restaurant in Harrogate.  It's described as "quirky" on Trip Advisor, and we loved it.  To our surprise, the owner is a big cycling fan and he's painted a map of the first two stages of the Tour  on the walls in the bar on the ground floor  of the restaurant.  We talked cycling with him for a while, he shared that Christian Prudhomme, the president of the Tour, and Bernard Hinault, France's five time winner of the Tour, dined there on Monday evening.  

The chair that Hinault sat in is now labeled with a Sharpie, and diner after diner, photographed the chair, sat in it, and then  said, maybe that will make me a better rider. Of course, I did the same.

Oh yeah, our meal was delicious.  A bottle of rose, fried brie with a sweet chili sauce for an app.  Lamb for Joni, and pork for me for our main courses, and then we closed by sharing a chocolate brownie type dessert and coffee.  

As we walked out another diner told us where Brad PItt had fish and chips on Monday, night, so Joni says, that's  where we''re dining tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Tour begins...life is good!  Isn't it?