The Tour of Britain came to town today

I got up very early for me so that I could do the preparation I had neglected for the meeting I had arranged for 10am about developing the website. Everything went well and several strangers met and proceeded to become a small team.

I then went to eat a delicious falafel and salad sandwich before walking dow to the bridge over the canal at Wallbridge where local people were gathering to watch the Tour of Britain cycle race pass by at some time after 1-30pm. It was a fun and jovial assembly and I moved about looking for a good vantage point for taking pictures. I bumped into Harry and his partner who is a very keen cyclist and went to watch the Tour de France when it started this summer in Yorkshire.

I also met several staff of Stroud District Council, which was quite useful as we could catch up on a couple of important local issues that concern both councils. I also had a good chat with the chief exec of the District Council and updated him on the neighbourhood plan activities which are gathering pace.

I chose to stand in the middle of the roundabout where the road to Cirencester joins the A46 to Bath which the cyclists had been following for some miles. It is right next to Brewery Bridge and is regarded as one of the main gateways into the town. Ecotricity is a large national energy supply company that was started in Stroud and has chosen to remain here which has been vital as they are very significant employers. Recently they bought the now defunct Stroud and Swindon Building Society HQ which you can see in the back ground on the far side of the canal.

Once the Tour arrived everything became very lively, with roars from the crowds lining the road and the noise of many accompanying police motor cycles which were closing the roads to let the race through safely. There had been a 'breakaway' of seven riders who had built up a five minute lead over the main bunch of riders which is called the 'peloton'. Sadly Alex Dowsett, one of the main British riders, who had been in the breakaway group, had suffered not one but two punctures just on the far side of Stroud by Salmon Springs and had thus become stranded between the leaders and the peloton.

The leaders raced past me on my right, and then Alex appeared on his own and came right in fronton me passing jet a couple of feet from my camera. But I am annoyed because I hadn't anticipated the speed that they would have through the ton and I should have set my shutter speed much higher, so I didn't get very sharp shots.

I have chosen this image because it shows the peloton in full flow with the very well known rider Mark Cavendish, who rides for the Omega Pharma - Quick-Step team, on the third bike in the picture behind a Sky rider. I think that Bradley Wiggins may be the sixth rider in this picture in the Sky Team colours.

No-one from the breakaway group managed to win as their last survivor was overtaken in the very last yards of the race. I really enjoyed watching the race especially on one's home patch. I doubt that it will happen again for a very long time, so my pictures will be an invaluable reminder to me. I can also show Woodpeckers as she was unable to get time off work, which is a great shame, as the race went only yards from where she was.