Le Grand Depart

A good day out watching the the first day of the Tour de France which showcased the best of Yorkshire. We opted to park some distance away from the route and ran in over the fells in the early morning sunshine. Leaving the Pennine Way at  Great Shunner Fell we descended to the summit of Buttertubs Pass which was already pretty busy. We quickly claimed a good spot meters before the line marking the top of the climb. It seemed like most of the Lake District outdoor community had made the trek to Buttertubs and it was a very sociable morning.
There was a great atmosphere building and plenty of young cyclists were putting in a sprint finish over the line to great applause. I'm sure one tandem rider had a lot of explaining to do when he arrived at the summit only to realise he was missing his better half from the back seat! There was plenty of entertainment from the Le Tour caravan and some very cheerful motercycle cops from both sides of the channel. The riders eventually arrived led by a breakaway from veteran Jens Voigt and the peleton soon swept through in a matter of seconds.
We joined the mass exodus before cutting off over the fells where surprisingly we came across a couple of rarely spotted naked ramblers enjoying an afternoon stroll. A fitting end to a very British take on ones of the worlds biggest sporting events!

For a view from the other side of the road have a look at the Sterling Adventures blog!