JULY 2008

BOB members from the UK Clive Ely and Paul Howard (our web master) arrived for a 2 week stay over the ETAPE & TOUR weeks.

Sue Frazer and her boyfriend Michelle stayed with us for the 3 nights of the ETAPE weekend and Steve dropped her off at Pau for the ETAPE on Sunday.

We watched the ETAPE group going past our house on route for the Tourmalet and cheered on both Sue and Nicky and acted as their water & loo stop. We were very impressed that they completed the ETAPE ride in weather conditions that could have been better.

The Tour de France had a finish stage in Bagneres down by the river on the 13th July and on the following day the 14th the TOUR passed by our house ‘DEEZARK’ on route for the Tourmalet. On the second day Steve, Clive & Paul all rode further up the mountain to see the Tour and found a great spot looking down the valley with views of the riders as they made their way up the mountain. On the other hand I watched the TOUR go past the house in comfort from the roof of our garage with Adrian (Radders) & Claire (his future wife) along with a couple of Ozzie guests,
who are living in Wimbledon for a while, Clare & Clive table, chairs, wine and a great view.

If you have EURO SPORT you would have seen our house DEEZARK on the right just as the TOUR was leaving Bagneres. Shirley (in OZ) saw the house but didn’t see us on the roof of the garage or all the BOB club tops that I had laid on the slopping part of the garage roof. I thought that the helicopters might spot them as they followed the TOUR out of Bagneres. It was all very exciting.

Paul arrived home with piles of TOUR goodies, Steve and Clive didn’t manage to do quite as well as Paul on the goodies front.