Uphill struggle

Up early this morning (a little too early given I was sleeping on an uninflated camping bed) to be out and about and soak up a bit of the 'start of the stage' in Castres. Lots of shouting and some pre-caravan gifts of hats and (very welcome) coffee. Then back to the house to wait for the full caravan to come by. They were going a lot faster than I remember them going at the finish in Lavaur a few years ago, so grabbing 'stuff' was a great deal more challenging. Still, the kids did fine, with a haul of hats, inflatables and fruit cordial.

The riders weren't due by for another hour or so, so Mr B took the opportunity for a quick catch-up snooze on a chair in the street, while the rest of us indulged in breakfast. Happily I wandered over to the sunny side of the street before the riders arrived - which put me on the right side to accidentally get a shot of some famous people. I hadn't a clue who was who, but I'm told that that's Contador in the middle and Froome (half of) on the far right. Froome, of course, won the day, leaving Contador behind in the mountains.

Watching the cyclists at the start means they are all by in a flash, but no worries because there was swimming the pool (kids), lunch (everyone) and the Lions/Australia rugby to watch (grown ups). Once the rugby was won, the kids were done swimming and lunch was devoured, we headed back to Lavaur, leaving our visitors to look around Castres.

The cycling is perfect for snoozing in front of: the commentary is calm and consistent, until anything happens - so you are woken whenever anything is actually happening (though actually if you are me you are woken every five minutes by a small boy saying "you are asleep", as if that's helpful). The end, of course, was too exciting to snooze through, with the French commentators excitedly extolling Froome's virtues. (I was mainly on the look out for a combi known in these parts, but I have to admit the cycling was pretty cool too!)

With our friends back from Castres, there was dinner and a slightly early night...