Friday 9 July 2010

Round and About and TDF - Part 92

I am still using pictures from my collection, but I hope this will be rectified when Nigel arrives on Tuesday with a camera for me to use.

Each summer in Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure, a team of wood carvers arrives from Canada for a week. It is amazing to watch these craftsmen and women at work, not only with hammer and chisel, but chain saws as well! I have put  some of the carvings in past posts; see my labels. It's amazing what one log of wood can be turned into.  At the end of the week of carving, the sculptures are then treated with preservative and positioned at different sites around the town for residents and visitors to enjoy.

This was a collection that had been finished the previous day. I did not have the camera with me while the carvers were at work.  (I did not have a blog then, and the camera did not travel everywhere with me!!)








TDF NEWS.


TDF - Thursday 8 July 2010 - Stage 5 - Épernay to Montargis 187.5 km The stage featured two category four (fairly minor) climbs in the first 36.5km and three intermediate sprints (at 27.5km, 126.5km and 169.5km). It was an extremely hot day with temperatures well over 30°C. (88°F). The temperature was 35/36°C in the Seine-et-Marne department where the stage ran - hot and  windless!

While I have been mentioning riders wearing the yellow jersey, there are also 3 other jersey colours of importance; the following will give those not familiar with the race a little more information:-

The yellow jersey represents the race leader.
The green jersey represents the leader of the points competition - points are won at intermediate sprints and for stage wins; these are often won by sprinters when the finish area is flat.
The polka dot jersey designates the race's finest climber. (King of the Mountains) - judged from points won by reaching the top of each climb first second or third.
The white jersey designates the highest-ranked rider in the overall competition, age 25 years or younger on the first of January of the year of the race.

The stage win went to Mark Cavendish (British, but in fact a Manxman- from the Isle of Man), I nearly shouted myself hoarse in the final seconds, once I knew Robbie Hunter of South Africa was not going to take it!
1. CAVENDISH Mark (Eng)
2. CIOLEK Gerald (Ger)
3. HAGEN Edvald Boasson (Nor)

Fabian Cancellara still holds the yellow jersey and no other positions have changed. For those of you who are not keen cyclists, you may be surprised that these positions have not changed. The reason; it is impossible for 190 riders to all cross the line simultaneously, so the Tour operates a rule that all the riders in the race's main peloton are given the same finish time as the first rider. But if a split forms and the gap is larger than one second, the next group gets the time of the first rider of that group. Overall, it saves a mad rush for the line and in most cases it's too difficult to allocate separate times. Once the tour gets into the mountains we should then see a number of changes in the main positions.

09 July - stage 6 - Montargis - Gueugnon 227.5 km- this is the longest stage of the tour. It is relatively flat, so I would expect  overall positions to stay much the same.

26 comments:

  1. Stunning! Love the one third up from the bottom. And I'm so jealous of your weather!

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  2. Hi Kirsty, the weather is very hot, last night at 23h00 there was a hot wind blowing it was quite incredible. Nigel arrives Tuesday and he seems to always bring cold and wet with him so we shall see what happens! Diane

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  3. Excellent wood carvings. Are they for sale?

    Bet you're glad is Nigel is coming soon.

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  4. Hi Gaelyn, no not for sale, think the one I like best is on an earlier post, but it will be interesting to see what is produced this year.

    Yep, looking forward to Tuesday. It is a VERY early flight so I suspect he will arrive and go straight to bed and sleep! Never mind we have all the celebrations for Bastille day that night so he will be up until after midnight:-)
    Diane

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  5. The statues are wonderful. Do they stay in the community or are they taken elsewhere for display? Do you have special plans for Bastille Day? I hope you beautiful weather continues for Nigel's visit. It would be terrible to have a repeat of the bad weather you experienced his last trip home. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  6. Mary the statues stay around the town and each year another 3 or 4 are added.

    We are going down to Chasseneuil about 21h30 on the 13th where we are likely to meet up with many people. There is a huge fireworks display which will probably be around 23h00. There is a ball as well which we will miss, but there will be dancing going on until the early hours of the morning. Bastille Day being a holiday everyone will sleep it off! We will come home after the fireworks; Nigel will be very tired after getting up at 03h00 in the morning to drive to the airport for the early flight!! Diane

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  7. They are amazing carvings, what happened to your camera -I'm obviously out of touch!!

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  8. Sebi, thanks for visiting. Your site is amazing, those photos of spiders are incredible. Diane

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  9. Hi Roz, remember you had no phone line and then you zapped overseas, meanwhile all went haywire here. Message on your blog. Diane

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  10. Those are lovely wood carvings. The town next to us holds an ice sculpture festival every February; the kids love it, but I find it just too cold. Only a few more days until Nigel gets back! Hooray! I showed Ryan your Reims Cathedral pictures, and he loved them. He'd seen one b/w photo in his book, and was really excited to see your color pictures. Of course, now he wants me to take him to France to see the Cathedral in person...ha ha!

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  11. Marjie, Ice sculptures beautiful but I agree too cold! I am sure not only Ryan would love to see the cathedral, you would as well:) Diane

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  12. Have a great weekend, I hope you will not be rushing about preparing for your husbands arrival next week all weekend.
    Great sculptures.

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  13. Lindy, think I am mostly up to date, but I need to cut the grass and all the edges. Don't want him to arrive to it looking straggly :-) You have a great weekend also. Diane

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  14. Hi Diane,
    Your comment did get through - thanks for trying and trying. Do not know which side of the big lake the trouble is on, yours or mine, because the blogger is delighting in giving me fits.
    It is so interesting that the carvers leave their art pieces there. Gee, some day you might have one in your garden - right. I wonder if it is just a fun thing for the artists, or if there is some sort of gain from this. At least all viewers can enjoy.

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  15. If there is one thing I do love and that is wood. Some people are so artistic and make the most beautiful statues.

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  16. Mya I don't really know the story behind the carvers, but I imagine as it is a yearly thing they do a tour. I am sure they must get paid quite well for it, and probaly go to a number of towns. It brings in the tourists so it is good for the towns in general. Diane

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  17. Joan I am fascinated watching them do these carvings. Last year there was a woman here, I could not believe how she worked with a heavy chain saw doing the basic work. One slip and that would be the end of the carving but it does not seem to happen thankfully. Diane

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  18. Love those carvings and hope you get time to put your feet up before your partner gets home.

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  19. Thanks Vera, just the grass to get sorted out, otherwise all is pretty much up to date. It will be good to see my husband again. Summer is always long for him while he brings in the pennies and I live it up in France!! Roll in retirement:)Diane

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  20. I hope you both have a wonderful time and yes, the quad is great fun - money well spent, wish I could afford one of those cutter things as well though!!

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  21. Thanks Roz. I keep thinking maybe we will win the lottery, but when I look at the percentages it is highly unlikely..... Diane

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  22. Blogger delay...it is now 12:24 pm here in Georgia....was watching TDF...congrats on Chavanel's big win today.

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  23. Thanks Mya, it is really good that he has now had two stage wins this year. Diane

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  24. Hi Diane,
    THose are some really interesting wood carvings.. Thanks for sharing..

    Hope you have a great Sunday!!

    Leesa

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  25. Thanks Leesa you to. Diane

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