The French invade Epping

One of the reasons I have been absent from my blog of late is due to spending a lot of time with friends and family, the great news is there are some great lifestyle posts ahead the bad news is that some of those days out take up blogging time and of course may leave a lingering hangover the morning after.

One such activity was when the Tour De France came to Epping my hometown. I may not have any interest in cycling itself but when there's an excuse for a Monday off of work and to see the local high street filled with people how could I not participate?

The weeks leading up to the Tour De France hitting our often quiet town meant signs were appearing, complaints about road closures were voiced and bunting was hung. Ben and I enjoyed a drive through the high street Sunday evening watching workers piling barriers along the streets in preparation for the next day. The cyclists were not due to hit Epping until around 2/3 but early morning with the sun shining Facebook status were filled with pictures of streets quickly filling up with local residents reading to watch a piece of history.

I arrived in to the spot secured by Ben and his mum around 1130pm and both were well prepared, his mum with her seat and Ben with the more important flask of Pimms. The atmosphere was fun (if not lacking any music) with people chatting as we waited - we found ourselves with a 90 year old man and a couple of gents, one who had travelled from Cornwall.

Soon the 'carnival' started making it's appearance, unfortunately it was more vehicles who sped through the high street throwing out Yorkshire Tea, Fruit Shoots and the like - it was a shame they weren't a little slower for us blogger types to take some photos. Thanks to the age of smart phones I was able to bring up live action so we could have an idea of where the cyclists were and my mum was asking for updates at her spot outside a friends further along the route.

After four hours of standing around and Pimms drinking the cyclists appeared in the distance and whizzed past in a matter of seconds if not minutes. It was amazing to see how quickly workers stepped in and started removing signage and packaging as we did what anyone would do after such excitement - hit the pub and BBQ.

If that wasn't enough oh la la for one week the following Saturday we stood host to a French market. Despite warnings of rain the sun was shining and mum and I had a lovely stroll through the high street buying French soaps, cheeses and sweet treats. Who needs to cross the Channel for a taste of the French?

I hope you enjoy some more photos from my faux French adventures.

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