The Queen and her Castle

On Monday morning, we had a nice breakfast and a bit of relax before deciding to rejoin the masses living outside the chateau grounds. Thought about making an offer to buy the place to clean it up and make a bob or two but changed my mind after reading how the last dynasty that had lived there over several centuries had perished in the Revolution. No photos of them in the public rooms either.

View over Perigny

We took the option of staying in the chateau. We had a room on the second floor with a nice view over the countryside. During our stroll around the chateau grounds, we found it to be a bit like parts of France in general we have seen this visit. Great initial public views from the front gates and driveway, well presented reception and restaurant areas but out the back the place could do with some TLC. We wandered past the pool, tennis courts and horse stables in the grounds and past the rubbish dump on the edge of the woods. And Yvonne wanted to get stuck into parts of the gardens

Can this lad really be 60?

During our visit this year we will celebrate Yvonne’s birthday, Randall’s birthday and our wedding anniversary. The last week in July saw Randall reach 59+ and so we took time out from our heavy gite schedule to spend a day quietly celebrating the event. For a variety of reasons we decided to take a good Sunday lunch at a chateau near Poitiers. Chateau de Perigny. A good choice as they had several good menus, some great wines, modern cooking and presentation combined with fine, but not overdone, table service. The chateau dining room had a great ambience which went well with the usual overcast day. We had a nice quiet celebration.

Le Tricheur off for a ride out of town

So now Le Tour is over for another year. Farce or sport? Given the politics involved it may be hard for the truth to emerge but the race is in trouble. A poll in the daily sports newspaper said 58% of French readers were not interested in the tour. I understand there is serious rivalry between the French bike racing association and the International Cycling Union with Le tour organisors not happy that the union did not do its job properly to exclude Rasmussen before the tour started. Some say that other races or at least the international cycling union want July to organize their own race and to take the tour from France. Some say the French had their worst individual result ever because they are the only ones sure to be clean from drugs. Some want the tour to be run on national team lines. As I write this the sports Minister is meeting with players to set political direction for next year. Maybe we will have to come back next year to see it all again!!

But if you want to see it, you can get close to the action and there is a buzz about the place as the race swings into action for another day.

Angouleme Stage Winner

Some two weeks later and after hearing much discussion on the TV coverage about how difficult it was for Christophe Moreau, the French champion, to carry the day and how courageous Vinikourov was to overcome a range of troubles to win 2 stages with panache, the race is a bit of a mess. Much wringing of hands, heaps of discussion and analysis, and we are left wondering what could happen next. Regardless of the troubles, there was still some magic left and so, as we were staying only a few kilometers from Angouleme and another stage finish, we spent another few hours one afternoon watching another finish. A four man breakway made it to the end, a French stage victory followed and the masses headed off happy. Yvonne is still wondering why we walked 7 kms in the sun (yes sun) to stand and watch the race for just a few minutes, but for me it is fascinating to see the race circus coming into town, the distribution of trinkets, the locals hanging out of the front doors and the caravans and bikes of the “camp followers” from all over the world. For a bike race!

As it happened, we rested out weary bones in the centre of Angouleme, in a bar just outside the hotel where Sandy Casar (stage winner) and his team were staying. So we had a great view when he turned up at the hotel after the usual winner drug testing. The team and suppoters clapped as he emerged from the car. He looked quite buggered as Yvonne, your loyal blog photographer, caught the moment. The centre of town was quite active, with team buses etc parked all over the place and patrons from the many restaurants spilling over into the small streets. Locals and visitors were all absorbing the atmosphere of a summer evening (at last).

Sarah's new hero (at least for one day)

We then headed off to get a spot just near the starting line, the riders lined up and then they were gone. The locals enjoyed the notoriety showcasing a range of local market happenings and gatherings around the drinking holes.

Start Villiers Cotterlots

Next morning we drove over to Villers-Cotterlots where we could walk into town and find the start enclosure. We found this more interesting as we watched the team buses arrive and then the media scrambles to get interviews and pictures of the perceived key riders. Yvonne struggled over the fence to get photos of riders, their names are somewhat incidental, whilst Sarah and Randall found a high spot from where they could look over quite a large part of the enclosure.