Tour de France 2011

Stage Seven, 8th July 2011

And now for something completely different!

On the 8th of July 2011 the Tour de France passes within 400 metres of our farm and we will of course watch it whistle past, in all most probably less than a minute, I dare say the entourage behind will take twice as long to pass. However why I have placed the photos online is simply because of the efforts that the locals have put into trying to put their villages’ names on the map, I refer to Ecueille and my own village of Pellevoisin. The stage that passes through our Canton’s administrative headquarters, Ecueille, population 1,333 in 2007 (this figure has been steadily falling for the past forty years) is the 7th stage, Le Mans to Chateauroux, termed ‘a flat stage’, it’s 218 kilometres, 135 miles long. After Ecueille the cyclists speed along the D11 passing through Le Gardon Frit, all of fourteen houses, before reaching Pellevoisin, population 856, and then onto Buzançais before arriving at the finish in the department’s capital Chateauroux.

The approach to Ecueille from Nouans les Fontaines is along the D81 arriving at the Place de Ville where the authorities have placed a large screen for the locals to watch the race, the Place, as in all French villages, doubles as a car park and the market place. Once arriving in the Place the cyclists turn sharp right onto the D11 opposite the Maire and head for Pellevoisin, some fourteen kilometres distant. Pellevoisin recently had its main road dug up on various occasions due to the installation of fibre optic broad band and a new sewage system making the road a bumpy ride to say the least, this believe it or not required a 1.45 km stretch of road in the village to be stripped right back and a whole new surface to be laid, they only finished a couple of days ago, who gets to pay for that I’m not quite sure. After departing Pellevoisin the teams head out towards Buzançais before turning left on the N143 for Chateauroux.









































































and then the riders continue on their way to Chateauroux ... unless too stunned by our displays to continue of course ......

Race Day