North Yorkshire was positively electric during the run-up to its hosting of the Grand Départ, the first two days of Le Tour de France. Yes, there was plenty of windging (complaining), but by and large, the closer the event came, the more people prepared and got excited. Towns and roads where the tour would pass through, however quickly, fixed their roads, slapped on new coats of paint, gave their towns an all-over good scrub, and decorated.
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| T-Shirt Bunting |
In the village of Knarsburough, school children decorated white t-shirts which was then strung up as bunting all through the village center.
Stores ordered specialty decals for their window displays. I loved this mustachio'd, beret-wearing French cyclist.
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Store front decal
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In our town's main square (day one's finish line), an old tree was cut down and the stump left in place, carved, and will be on display for as long as possible.
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| Eiffel Tower |
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| Yorkshire Rose and Fleur de lis |
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| Le Tour date |
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| Ummm... Something to do with Le Tour |
In York (day two's starting point), yellow bunting was strung along many of the city centre's shopping district streets.
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| Town centre bunting |
And my favorite knit shop helped out in the cutest possible way. They worked with the North Yorkshire burrough councils and the local knitting contingency to create wee jersey jumpers. The pattern was free and fairly simple, so tens of thousands of the wee jersey jumpers were strung up as bunting all along the racecourse.
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| Le Tour jumper bunting |
Green jersey is worn by the cyclist with the most points
White jersey is worn by the overall best young team member
Red-polka dot jersey (and my favorite) is worn by best mountain climber, aka: King of the Mountain
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| More Le Tour jumper bunting |
Here's a short video about the knit bunting, created by Sky Television (a cable company who sponsor a cycling team).
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