Well, the Giro has been and gone, and the colour pink has been generally overdosed on to such an extent that no one in Northern Ireland will ever wear it again - well not for a long time! We moved on to the home of Ross' cousin Denise and her husband James on Saturday evening, and had a delicious dinner at a local restaurant and then a tour of the local hamlets and their Giro decorations. Despite the rain in Armagh, there was a crowd huddling under umbrellas to watch some bands, and there was an abundance of pink lighting, bunting, balloons.....
Sunday saw us up early, Ross heading off to Benburb to catch up with his cousin Samuel and the Square Wheels cycling club- they rode into Armagh to see the teams arrive and then up to a position that enabled them to watch the designated climb. Despite rain and hail, they had a good time. A kindly van owner on the hill put out awnings and provided hot tea and biscuits- how hospitable is that?
I stayed with Denise - who is the proprietor of the village store in
Loughhall. Despite it being Sunday, a day on which she has resisted operating - she decided to open the shop and get into the spirit of the race. It was a wonderful day - despite a population of 300, there were over 600 people in the town, and everyone was very cheerful and excited. They had gone to such efforts to decorate the town. James had brought along a vaguely pink car from his collection of historic vehicles - a Singer- to park in town, festooned with ribbons.
We only had a brief shower of rain and before we knew it, the race was on us and suddenly it was all over. So we packed up the shop and headed home.
Denise was making a donation to charity from the shop's takings, and the local WI (Women's Institute) was taking donations for tea and scones - all up they had a great sum to donate towards hospice beds. A fabulous day.