Wasn't That Great

If you were there wasn't that a great day. If you weren't, well you missed a very special once in a lifetime experience, but don't beat yourself up for not going.

Le Tour came to London this weekend and I have to say that Saturday was one of the best days out I've ever had in my favourite city. Meeting some great people, seeing some of the finest athletes on the planet close-up and getting squirted with a giant water pistol, what more could a man (or woman, or child) ask for.

I got off the train at Waterloo at just before ten and made my way to Trafalgar Square. This in itself was a moment to savour, traffic free central London, a party of Japanese tourists celebrated the fact by having their photograph taken lying down in the road at the end of the Strand!

Ken Finally Gets His Way - A Traffic Free London

I made my way down to Whitehall with the intention of getting close to the start. I found a spot next to the statue of Field Marshall Haig, about 75 yards from the start. It wasn't too busy and I found a couple who were sitting on (very British) picnic chairs, reading the morning papers. By about noon the crowd was about three deep on either side of Whitehall and the sun was beating down on the back of my neck.

For Mags and Six, and anybody else who has put their name down for 2012, the 'goodie' bag that the volunteer marshalls were given was something worth having: jacket, t-shirt, poncho, water bottle (with London 2007 on it), note pads, autograph book, sunscreen, pen, wrist band and the thing most people will cherish - a commemorative medal.

The riders themselves were practising on the course most of the time from 11-1 which was when the publicity caravan began. The caravan gives away 15 million items during the three weeks of the tour and a word of warning to anybody attending one of the stages at a later date - be prepared to have your eye taken out if the aim of the young ladies distributing the freebies isn't too good!

Giant Water Bottle Anybody? or perhaps

a big lion

One of the more astute bits of advertising was by Skoda who gave away thousands of free beeny hats with their name and badge on it. Now normally I don't suppose people would want to wear a Skoda product but a lot of people didn't have any sun hats, plus it was a souvenir but the clever part was that when the TV cameras focused on the start and the first couple of hundred metres down Whitehall you could see hundreds of Skoda hats.

As the caravan progressed we were showered with free water, sweets, pens, hats, sun screen, posters, giant T-Mobile hands, model cars and then a giant water pistol came round and squirted us to keep us cool. Oh and then the cyclists came round for their practice before the real event got started at 3 p.m. I stayed at the start until just after four when I walked up to the Mall, which was the end of the Prologue and then into Trafalgar Square to watch some of it on the two big screens. There was a huge cheer when Bradley Wiggins rode, unfortunately he didn't get a podium place.

Oh and for good measure I managed to get myself on TV, at the start when several riders chose the right hand side rather than the left they came right over to where I was (albeit very briefly) and the crowd opposite were shouting at us, you're on the big screen.

This isn't the best photo I've ever taken, but it summed up the day