Yesterday the Tour de France was in the Pyrenees; stages in the mountains are very popular to watch as the peloton is often split up and moves slightly less fast than normal.

We have friends who run a holiday home for weary (and not-so-weary) cyclists 17km from Arreau, one of the towns to be visited, so Nick and I drove to Alison and Ian’s, left the car there and cycled up to Arreau. Ian had already set off with his 15 guests and was on the col de Peyresourde above Arreau, but the road was closed by the time we arrived. We found a shaded spot as it was 30ºC in the shade and scorching in the sun, and waited for the fun to start.

The publicity caravan soon arrived, throwing freebies of every imaginable sort into the crowd; our bag was soon full of biscuits, key rings, hats, frisbees and even a tee-shirt. Once the caravan had passed, the atmosphere of anticipation grew by the minute as we waited for the first of the cyclists to arrive. Somebody in an apartment above a shop was watching it on the TV and occasionally shouted a progress update out of his window. Then we heard the whirr of the helicopters, a sure sign that the riders are approaching, the whistle of a gendarme to warn the spectators to stand well back, and Thomas Voekler and Chris Anker Sorensen whizzed past, taking the hill at incredible speed. The peloton was really strung out; a minute later another four riders came through, followed by groups small and large for the next 30 minutes. We were able to spot Bradley Wiggins as he sailed past, looking very comfortable in his yellow jersey.

Once everyone had gone through, the road was reopened and the cars started to queue to go home; the road which had been almost entirely empty for our ascent was now totally gridlocked for the next half hour or so, as we wove our way between the cars on the descent back to Ian’s.

Three of Ian’s guests were old friends of ours so we ended up by staying to dinner and having a good catch up with them; a great day out.