Day 5-July 6

     Our second day watching  the Tour, so up at 5:30 AM and on the road by 6:15.  We're missing out on our proper English breakfast with these early departures, but our host, Anita, actually is getting up for us, pouring OJ, and offering toast or a croissant!  Very accommodating.

Today we chose to watch the Tour south of the village of Holmbridge, halfway up the climb to Holm Moss, the highest climb on the Tour in Britain.  Small when measured against the climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps, just as steep, but just not as long.

This climb was 57 km from the finish of today's stage, so we hoped that the peloton would be spread  out by the time they reached us, and moving more slowly because of the pitch.

Our drive to today's viewing spot took about 90 minutes to go 53 miles.  The last few miles were on very steep and narrow back roads since the main roads were already closed.  We parked in a farmers field and happily paid the £7.50 fee, especially since he had a porta potty.  The view from this car park was incredible, and the owner could not have been more friendly.  Like so many Brits he was quite welcoming and chatty.  They all want to know if we're here just to watch the Tour, and if this is our first time in England.  We usually respond by asking if they've been to states, and then they tell us about their trip.  This man had  been to Amherst, New Hampshire many years ago.  After our lovely chat with this gentleman, we followed his directions down into the valley below us and right to the route of the Tour.  It took us about 40 minute to get to the Tour route, and then another hour hiking up the road to our viewing spot, half way up Holm Moss.

 Before heading up the route we searched for some food in the village of Holmbridge, and ended up in the foyer of a church that was hosting a cafe as part of their town's Tour celebration.  We each had a coffee and a slice a cake, baked by one of the parishioners, no doubt.  Again, the people running the church cafe couldn't be friendly, and we had a wonderful conversation with three, a woman, a man, and his son.  The woman had visited 39 states in the US!  Probably more than I have!

The hike out of town and up the route immediately got steep.  We've got viewing spot selection down to a science.  We don't like to go to the top,  because the crowd just gets too crazy and too thick...making it too hard to see he riders or take  pictures.  We like a spot where you can watch the riders approach you for at least 100 yards, so you have plenty of time to identify the riders and get ready to take photos.  We like a spot with a great view...since you're there for up  to 9 hours,  you want a beautiful spot.  Lastly, we like spots that prevent others from standing behind you and then trying to move in front of you at the last second.  

We found the perfect spot above a five foot high retaining wall that was right on the edge of the road.  There was a wooden fence right behind us which we used to display our flag, and our views of the Yorkshire dales were nearly 360 degrees in scope.  Two kind gentleman, a police officer and his dad, helped us get up to our perch and we never left it until the racers left.  WE SCORED AGAIN.

A single man joined us to  our right and we chatted with him for hours.  He's cycled up this peak many times, and followed professional cycling closely, and had travelled all  over the world, so we had lots to talk about.

As predicted in the Tour schedules the riders arrived at our spot right on time, at approximately 3 pm.  The lead group consisted of only two riders, then a single rider followed them by 5 seconds, and most of the peloton was another 20 seconds behind him.  Considering the steepness of the climb we were surprised how fast they were moving.  I only recognized a few riders but realized that Mark  Cavendish was not among them.  We later learned he withdrew from the race as a result of his injury from yesterday's crash.

Once all the riders passed us, we packed up headed down the route back to Holmbridge, stopping in the church to revisit our friends and use the facilites.   There was a village fair going on in the green across from the church, so  we bought a couple of sausage sandwiches and ate them as we hiked back to our car.  That took another 40 minutes, the last five of which were under a very light drizzle.  

Our drive back to Knaresborough was slowed by traffic, the first ten miles too over an hour, but eventually the traffic thinned and we were at our B&B by 6:30 pm.  We were tired, but we showered, put on fresh clothes, and headed to York, about 15 miles away, for dinner.  

We went all English tonight:  Yorkshire pudding, steak, fries, and stick toffee pudding.  All very tasty.  It was not 10 PM, and starting to get dark, but we wanted to visit York Minister before heading, and we did.  Well worth the time,  the old cathedral is magnificent!

We returned to the B&B by 11 pm, tired but very satisfied, we had a great day!