Yellow Bikes and Jerseys

When the Tour de France visited Yorkshire with two stages over two days Yorkshire folk got rather excited and painted yellow bicycles popped up all over the towns and countryside.  An appeal went out to knitters for 2,500 little jumpers portraying the famous tour jerseys, yellow for the race leader, polka dot for the best climber, green for the most consistent points finisher  and white for the best young rider.  The knitters went to work with gusto and eventually 23,453 were actually knitted and strung along the streets of towns and villages.

The bicycles appeared decorated and in various stages of repair or

disrepair

Come the day the 'Games Makers' were wearing their yellow t-shirts, here is one directing people traffic from Harrogate railway station.

and of course there was a good spread of spectators sporting Tour yellow t-shirts and French symbols such as French berets (above) blue and white stripped jerseys and even the occasional string of onions.

There was also a good smattering of punning local businesses signs such as this Indian restaurant featuring Bradley Wiggins (nickname Wiggo) the 2012 Yellow Jersey winner.

The banners were out as the race approached and this one says "Bonjour la France et Mémé" which of course is 'Hello France' but also "and Grandma", I wonder where she was?

Eventually all the build up was over and the race was on.  The true yellow jersey (briefly held by Marcel Kittel here) making the starting roll out from York before the proper racing began.  While watching the race where is the best place to leave your bike?

Well possibly chained to church fencing and this particular church is St Clements, not the famous London one whose bells said oranges and lemons but they have however chimed in with lemon yellow flags.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at Y here

Jardiniere and Jalopy

Sailing by Harrington Harbour

Flowers in July planted by the Church Road Youth Club in what one could loosly term a  jaunty jardinière near the jetty,  but now landlocked forever.

Which is the only place for a Jaguar car seen here in the Lakeland Motor Museum a jumble of cars, bicycles and motor bikes. Down the side are shops recreating displays from the 1950s and 60s

Did I mention they also have lots of antique signs?  John Bull, a national personification of Britain was the name used by the Leicester Rubber Company (1906-1955) who produced tyres for all vehicles as well as that essential for the cyclist, the tyre repair kits.

which came in little tin boxes and much larger ones for those with horsepower:-

Photo from The Vintage Knitter's   'Tin of the Week'

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet,  this week sojourning at J here

Take the Bike

Wordsworth was inspired to write a sonnet here, 'Upon Westminster Bridge' ..."This city does a garment wear,/the beauty of the morning, silent bare./Ships, towers, domes and temples lie/Open to the fields, and to the sky"...  There are now very different towers and no longer fields but the trees provide the greenery on the embankment.  Our couple have no eyes for the view and the bicycle rider keeps an eye on the view ahead.  She is riding one of London's hire bikes usually called 'Boris Bikes' after the city's mop headed, bike riding mayor.  At present sponsored by Barclays Bank (its logo is on the back wheel) who are now bailing out, delivering only half of the £50M it had promised to pay and the deal will end in August 2015.  Well they do have to pay those banking bonuses. 

And nearby is one of the bike hire points. Three people are trying to work out payment and release system.  I have puzzled over these payment points myself, but not in London, I don't think there is pleasure in travelling on those busy lorry laden roads.

Although a more cycle friendly city like Antwerp in Belguim would be tempting.  These two were forward planning bike hire by taking notes.  The hire bikes are on the Jordaenskaai and the metal sheds to the right were originally built c1889 for the storage of goods being landed from the River Schelde which flows past even further to the right. Today it is a car parking area and since 1981 the roofs have been a protected historic monument.

Joraenskaai

The view of the roofs also shows how the bike route running past the sheds is separated from the main road.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at B

ABC Wednesday - Velocipede

What every velocipede requires is an ingeniously placed velopomp. The word velocipede was coined by Nicéphore Niépce to mean any human powered vehicle, the name never advanced out of the Victorian era in English and we embraced the name bicycle.  The French however shortened it into a word that seems to embody speed - the Vélo.  I think this sign may be a combination of French and Flemish  but it leaves no doubt what it is to be used for. All the velocipede racks in Belgium have a pump and we sat in a café in Sint-Niklass  watching this pump being lifted up and down to fill tires.  No need to carry a pump on your bike when when is always close to hand.   Belgium is definitely a place of velocipede lovers

 and I have never seen so many bikes in one place as outside the station in Ghent, they were stacked as far as the eye could see,  this is only a fraction.. They cluster outside the station

.

and then spread out into the surrounding streets.  I wonder what the collective noun for bicycles or vélos is, perhaps a pride, for the Belgians seem mighty fond of them.  But with so many perhaps it can be difficult sometimes to find where you've parked it so perhaps the best way is to vamp it up

with flowers.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a ride through the alphabet  from A to Z

Pedal Power

If only they had made the sign of the same material as the bicycle, but although aged, it is still selling the bike. The slogan was to differentiate this bike from their competitors who used cast iron for some of the critical parts, making them heavier than the all-steel Raleigh. .  

I can imagine this workshop being filled with bicycles in its heyday. Perhaps with another sign inside

in stainless steel.

A world away from today's bikes. 

An entry for Signs, Sign