Bastille Day and Capestang - Tour De France

In France, it is called Fête Nationale ("National Celebration") or more often, “Quatorze Juillet” - 14 July; we called it Bastille Day and we chose to celebrate the day by driving all over the country trying to find someone celebrating the day… We were 4 hours too early in Capestang, so drove on, only to be too early at every village until we reached the sea. So, we sat down to enjoy the seaside and eat. We began with ice-cream before sitting down at a curb side restaurant. There were very few people sitting down so wandered for a couple of minutes before deciding to sit down. When we returned, the place was packed and we were lucky to be seated. People who followed were turned away. It took 3 hours to enjoy our meal before making our way back to Capestang for a planned firework spectacular. We got as far a Narbonne, and watched their display from the outskirts of the shopping centre. We then mad it to Capestang for midnight and spent a few hours watching a troop of singers attempting to sing every song ever written in the last 50 years. Sometimes we would get 30 seconds of the tune before they changed outfits and began the next snipet. 2 hours later our beds called out and off we went. It was relief as in the background local children were treating the old folk of the village to a barrage of firecrackers and fireworks.

The Tour De France came past again this year, so off to Narbonne to mingle with the cyclists on Thursday before getting up, making a picnic and settling in for the long wait along the route. This year we stood along the canal in Capestang. It was good spot to see the cyclists, but a dreadful spot for freebies. Far too many tourists with faster feet to and no manners all pouncing for plastic key-rings, cotton hats, newspapers and of course, washing powder samples. We walked away with a cardboard megaphone (roled up piece of card) and a daily paper.

Shortly after the freebie parade the cyclists arrived and this year, as we were on a bend at the top of a hill, the bikes were easy to see. Last year we blinked and they were gone.

Here they come

Swoosh

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Swoosh - Smile for the camera