February 06, 2014

Tour de France

The Tour de France is coming to the Yorkshire Dales later this year, and Brian's recent work seeks to capture the excitement of the event.

The Grand Depart is on July 5th, starting out from Leeds with the riders making their way to Harrogate via the spectacular scenery of the Yorkshire Dales.

They will leave Leeds heading north to Harewood before turning west through Otley, Ilkley and Skipton then north into Wharfedale, the first of the day's main valleys. Passing by the tourist hot-spots of Grassington, Kettlewell and Buckden the cyclists will encounter a long steep climb up to Thoralby and then enter Wensleydale.

From Aysgarth they will make their way west to Hawes at the top of the dale and get their first sight of the Buttertubs Pass over which they must summit before dropping down into the northernmost and narrowest valley of Swaledale with twisting roads and sharp bends. But it's an incredibly picturesque route and sure to be lined with crowds the whole way down to the market town of Reeth.

From there it's south through Leyburn, Middleham and Masham to Ripon where they will skirt the town then onto the final straight to the big crowds and the finishing line in Harrogate. Quite a testing first day!

More about the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2014 can be found here.

All images © Brian Alderman.