Day 1-July 2

We made it!  All stages of our trip couldn't have gone smoother: drive to Concord, bus to Logan, flights to Iceland and England.  We left Logan onTuesday night at 9:30 PM landed in Reykjavik at 6:30 AM, changed plans and took off at 8:00 AM, and landed in Manchester at 11:30 AM.  Customs, baggage claim,  and bus to Avis were all completed relatively quickly, and by 12:30 PM we were in our car and heading to Holmfirth.

I actually got some sleep on the plane for the first time, so we were feeling pretty good.  We let our Garmin GPS direct us to Holmfirth, where we had a late lunch at the Pure North Cider Cafe. This place was Yorkshire's answer to the cafe at Windy Ridge Orchard in North Haverhill, NH.  It's an apple orchard that produces their own hard ciders and serves meals in a very small, but very charming and modern out building on this farm.  This was a Trip Advisor recommendation, and it was right on the money.  Joni and I had pulled pork sandwiches (no barbecue sauce needed here) and two versions of their special ciders that they brewed in honor of the Tour de France.

The drive from Manchester to Holmfirth was a pretty one,  much of it followed the route that the tour riders will follow on Sunday, which is why we selected it so we could check out viewing spots for stage 2.    Lots of rolling hills, sheep, stone walls, and stone constructed buildings.  No doubt we're not in the US anymore.

Leaving Holmfirth we headed to our B&B in Knaresborough, which is about 40 miles to the northeast of Holmfirth.  Not too hard a drive, although there was plenty of traffic, and driving on the left, and shifting with my left hand our six speed Vauxhall Mokka is challenging.

We found our B&B easily, thanks to Ms. Garmin.  The B&B is really nice, very tidy, and the hosts were very welcoming.  Travel fatigue really kicked in at this point,  so after briefly saying hello we went to our room, unpacked a little, and took naps for an hour or so before showering and heading out to dinner.

We were out like lights for about 90 minutes; so it was a good thing we set our alarms.  We showered and left the B&B and headed to Harrogate, only 3.5 miles away for our dinner reservation at Deano's.  It was date night at Deano's so we got a nibbles plate (aka appetizers), five tapas, and a full bottle of wine for £46.  The meal was wonderful, but we could only eat half of each plate,  jet lag was clearly impacting our normal ravenous appetites.  

Harrogate, where Deano's is located, is the finish line for the first stage of this year's Tour, so the place was really jumping with excitement, media vehicles, etc.  We searched for Kate and William to no avail, but our waitress told us David Beckham, dined at Deano's earlier tonight. 

The British are going all out to celebrate the "Grand Depart" of this year's Tour.  Every village is all decked out in painted bicycles, and banners.  Our B&B hosts proudly told us that Knaresborough was voted "best decorated" village!

Returned to the B&B at 11 PM,  sleep will come easy...