Cycle madness the Tour of Britain comes to Duns
Even if you are not a cycling fan there is something about a major event passing through a sleepy, rural town like Duns that causes a frisson of excitement and gets everyone out mowing their front lawn just in case the TV cameras pan round that far. There are already decorated bikes and flags out all over the area and I for one think any kind of distraction from work and daily life is a great thing. The Tour of Britain takes place from Sunday 6-13th September and goes right through our home town of Duns. Ali cycles to work most days so maybe she will be hopping on the back and joining the British team as they go past?
Announced yesterday team members Hugh Carthy, Gabz Cullaigh, Scott Davies, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Alex Peters and Ollie Wood will set out from Holyrood Park in Edinburgh taking in a few famous sites in the capital before racing through East Lothian through the Lammermuir Hills to Duns and on down to Northumberland. The prime watching spot for us is at the top of hill out of Gifford to catch the riders battling it out for the King of the Mountains. Hopefully they will have time to glance at the views as they are pretty amazing up there with the heather all out, only a few sheep roaming around and the wind turbines on the horizon. Back on the flat our children will all be out of school watching the spectacle as the riders fly through the town.
Originally called the Victory Cycling Marathon, the Tour of Britain began post-war in 1945 and was only open to amateurs. It then became The Milk Race and the Milk Marketing Board paid for "Drink more milk" to be embroidered on the jersey of every semi-professional or independent British rider. Best of all the winner received a £10 bonus! Not sure I could get my kids to cycle all that way for a tenner. Pictured below is Bill Seggar getting going again after a bit of tyre trouble in the 1960 Milk Race.
The Tour turned professional and GRrreat with Kellogg's as sponsors from 1987 to 1994. 1987 tour winner Joey McLoughlin is pictured below with Tony the Tiger. After the Pru took over the tour ran twice and then did not happen again until 2004 due to lack of sponsorship and safety concerns.
Back on it's feet and with cycling more popular than ever this year's tour is already under way creating a buzz across the country. Stage 3 of this year's tour starts at Cockermouth with a stunning finish at Floors Castle in Kelso and there are some brilliant bikes up in the town in all the shop windows. One of our favourites below in Swan's shoe shop.
So inspired by all the fabulous bikes we saw in Kelso at the weekend we thought we should maybe create our very own ScotlandShop tartan bike. What do you think?
9th September is a big day for the Scottish Borders as the Queen is also visiting to re-open the Borders Railway across at Tweedbank. We must apologise to Her Majesty as we will be out cheering for the cyclists instead. Are you out watching? Send us your pics of the action.
