Re:
Just noticed this thread.
I travelled down to Hawes from Glasgow on Friday afternoon with my son and daughter and easily found our booked parking space in a field at Nova Farm right on the road up Butter Tub pass.
We walked into Hawes for the evening and found it to be busy but not jumping. We were pleasantly surprised to find that local businesses hadn't inflated their prices for the visit of Le Tour.
Sausage and chips £3 and a pint of Theakstons Le Tour was £3 which is not bad.
Got back to the car about 1030pm and tucked up in our sleeping bags for the night. Plenty of others kipping in their cars and lots of camper vans (I want one !) and tents.
After a reasonable sleep we were up about half 7. Got the camping stove out and made coffee and rolls and sausage and watched the early birds heading up the hill.
We made our way up the hill and found a decent spot about 9.30am. Five hours before the riders were due to come through !! The time flew in , people watching is great fun and the atmosphere build up during the morning.
Eventually the cavalcade came through then the rider led by some distance by Jens. We were right at the spot the peleton had to stop !!! Don't know whether that's a good thing. Kevin Reza stopped right in front of us and Purito actually got off his bike and footered about with his chain.
After everyone was through we set off back down the hill in the buzzing crowd. We got out the field surprisingly quickly and were back up the road mid evening.
It was a fantastic experience but if I did it again I would pay extra for a camping pitch and take the tent for a decent nights sleep.
Here's a link to the rest of my photos ...
http://s5.photobucket.com/user/Hawmaw/s ... ly%20Hawes
