Caravane d'Amour

So much for a Saturday morning lie in. After the party in Trept the night before we had not had that much sleep however we had to get up early - we just had to. The reasons - one it was July 14th, Bastille Day and being the French national day lying in bed would just be an insult to those who fought gallantly to overthrow the monarchy and create the republic. Secondly the Tour de France was coming our way...

Well I say our way - we had a hour's drive to reach the foot of the Cote de Corlier, near Bourg-en-Bresse, one of the small climbs the riders were going to undertake en route to the Alps that day. We thought we would get there early to get a good spot and also take in the atmosphere - the riders were not due to come through until about 1pm. We arrived in the first part of the route at about 9.45am in St Jean-le-Vieux to be greeted by an old guy pedalling a static bike waving a baguette at every car that drove past and people already having emplaced their deck chairs in prime positions on every corner of this pretty village. There were gendarme everywhere too.

Luckily the route was still open to traffic and we could climb the Cote de Corlier to get a vantage point near the top of the climb - good job too as there was hardly any parking spots left going up. It was a slow climb too as we passed dozens of amateur pedallers trying to emulate their heroes by climbing up the hill. We also passed a very bizarre roadside decoration consisting of a crane and dozens of old bikes suspended mid-air. Les Francais huh.

We found a spot in side lane near the village of Corlier and then had to trek a kilometre back to the summit. We took our place about 100m short of the summit just around a bend and prepared for the arrival of the Caravane.

The Caravane is a procession of publicity like you have never seen before (unless you have seen it before). I have seen processions before but never at 40 mph. Dozens of companies use the Tour to publicise or promote their products by creating the most obscure floats and randomly throwing promotional material at the people on the sides of the road.



There were about 40 different 'advertisers' in everything from giant dustbins to mobile Laughing Cow cheese boxes. Where we were just after a bend added to the hilarity as we could not see what was coming too.



As for the presents, well we got a few including my favourite, a pair of giant green hands (as modelled by Véro) that I have seen on the TV over the years of watching the Tour. Some were passed out, others were launched at some speed and I was at one point smacked in the gut by a SeaFrance pen - so that's how they thank me for their custom.



There were others too we missed out on, including inflatables, hats and other cheesy memorabilia I would have loved to get my hands on even if I would throw it away later. Once the mayhem had passed we had about an hour to wait for the riders during which the tension rose whilst everyone quietly tucked into their baguettes wondering what would happen on this tricky hill....