Tour of Britain - Stage 3 Guide

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For anyone who's been paying attention, there's absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Britain is falling back in love with the bicycle. However, there are few - if any - British towns that love the bike, and bike racing, quite so much as does Stoke-on-Trent; which now has more than 124km of National Cycling Network routes reserved solely for cyclists and pedestrians and earned the status of an official Cycling Town under a sustainability, regeneration and development initiative created by Cycling England, a project that achieved real and noticeable results in its efforts to improve cycling's exposure, cyclist's safety and get more people on bikes before the country went temporarily mad and voted in a Conservative government who wasted no time at all in ending the project's funding and thus forcing it to close. In fact, cycling is so popular here that this is the third time it's hosted what has become known as the Stoke-on-Trent Stage; starting and finishing in the city and looking set to become as regular a part of the Tour of Britain as the Alpe d'Huez climb is a part of the Tour de France.

Ford Green Hall (© Phil Eptlett CC2.0)

Home to some 450,000 people, the city consists of six towns and several villages which grew and became contiguous after the 17th Century; the region having experienced an industrial revolution of its own due to the innovative production methods developed by Josiah Wedgewood and others in the local potteries. When the later Industrial Revolution came, the entire region was transformed; soon becoming home to pottery production on a massive scale, mines, mills and steel works. Ceramics dominate the cultural experience available to visitors with four important museums telling the history of the city and its most famous products, the most famous being the Wedgewood Museum. Visitors with children might also like to see Trentham Monkey Forest, home to a colony of 140 Barbary macaques. Others might prefer the 17th Century Ford Green Hall at Smallthorne, a half-timbered farmhouse run as a museum and restored so as to be as close as possible to how it would have been when newly constructed.

The first half of the race is relatively unchallenging - or will be provided that the battering wind and rain that forced race organisers to cancel Stage 2 have abated, at any rate - with no serious climbs; the parcours consisting chiefly of long straights and easy corners which give it the feel of a long, mass-start time trial rather than a stage of an eight-day race. The second half is completely different with several big climbs, including a steep Category 1 which will really test the rider's strength after 86km, and a series of very tight corners, bends and assorted other technical obstacles.

Trentham Hall, demolished in 1912.

The race assembles at Trentham Gardens for a 10:30 start, completing a 3.9km rolling neutral zone prior to the start of competition. The italianate formal gardens once surrounded Trentham Hall; one of the many great stately homes to spring up after the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the Crown swelled its coffers by selling of monastery lands - complete with a handy source of masonry in the form of a now-derelict monastery - at advantageous rates to favoured aristocrats and also one of the many to be demolished in the early 20th Century by an owner who had found his funds to be rapidly dwindling and the old family seat too much of a drain upon them to be kept up. A shame, as by all accounts it was a very grand structure, but the land was put to a much better use when it became a public park permitting the poor of Stoke and nearby to enjoy the benefits of the open air and countryside, the gardens now accessible to all. Between 1931 and 2002, the gardens were the site of the Trentham Ballroom where Pink Floyd and The Beatles, among many others, played.

Passing north along Park Drive, the peloton reach the B5038 and travel north-west for 1.6km before arriving at the A519 and turning left. The road leads under the M6 motorway, soon reaching 3.9km from Trentham Gardens and the end of the neutral zone next to a lay-by at 52°57'32.14"N 2°13'14.56"W. Moments later, they reach Beech, then the junction with the A51 (according to the roadbook, there's now a roundabout here - there wasn't in the past, but we're going to assume one has been added). The first exit, going left and east, leads towards Stone - however, the race turns a tight 80 degree right corner to head to Swynnerton.

Swynnerton Hall (© Simon Huguet CC2.0)

After turning right at a T-junction 0.92km from the corner the race travels through Swynnerton, the peloton passing very close to the grand Georgian-period Hall, home to Lord Stafford; a title currently held by Francis Fitzherbert,  descendant of King George IV's first (and illegal under English law yet declared valid by the Pope) wife Maria Fitzherbert. The riders remain on the same road, passing through woodland - always hazardous due to thorns etc. increasing the likelihood of punctures - halfway to Coldmeece, location of a truck rental facility and thus potentially hazardous due to diesel on the road. They keep right as they pass a fork in the road, over a crossroads at Sturbridge, site of Her Majesy's Prison Drake Hall large industrial units where the riders will need to be once again be cautious in case of diesel spills; presently coming to a junction and left turn to rejoin the A519 after riding 12.8km since the start of the race.

The route passes Eccleshall Castle on the right. Built originally in 1200, then rebuilt as a vast and imposing fortress just over a century later, the Castle was briefly home to Queen Margaret of Anjou in 1459 as she either prepared for or fled from the Battle of Blore Heath (the story varies and both are possibly true). Much of it was destroyed by Cromwell's forces during the Civil War, with those remaining parts passing into the hands of a family named Carter - relatives of the US president of the same name - at the beginning of the 20th Century and it remains in private ownership to this day.

Eccleshall (© Andy and Hilary CC2.0)

Eccleshall town comes immediately afterwards, the riders turning left at the mini roundabout on the High Street just within the town to travel along Stone Road, also known as the B5026. With electricity generated by a biofuel powerstation fitted with turbines powered by locally-grown elephant grass, Eccleshall claims to have been the first carbon-neutral town in the United Kingdom. After 0.95km the race will pass to the left of the Gentleshaw Bird of Prey Hospital, a sanctuary devoted to the rescue and treatment of injured birds of prey, bats and other animals. It's open every day except Tuesday from 10:30 to 16:30, very interesting and very, very worthy of your support - which can be given by paying the tiny £4 (£3 for children of 3 and OAPs) entry charge.

Having crossed a railway bridge very slightly narrow than the road either side and thus unlikely to cause any issues, the peloton reach Norton Bridge and arrive at a roundabout half a kilometre later. The riders need to take the second exit, but it's rather a technical junction whether they go left or right around the center due to the unusual angles and kinked approaches of two of the exits. Left is the longer route but to us it appears that it might just be possible to take this path at a higher speed than the shorter right path which may require a sharper turn - it's one of those ones where it's not really possible to tell unless you ride it and find out. The roundabout leads directly onto another railway bridge, then along more straight roads.

Stone Mill. It was here 1887 that Stoney Richard Smith came
up with an idea to remove wheatgerm from grain, cook it and
then add it to the final dough mixture. He patented the  idea
and began selling his new bread, starting the brand we now
know as Hovis. (© Chris Allen CC2.0)

Having passed back over the M6, the Tour arrives at Stone 21.3km from the start of the race, passing through Walton which is contiguous with it before coming to a roundabout, taking the second exit to go straight ahead. The stage's first intermediate sprint begins at 22.4km, by the entrance to Westbridge Park Sports Centre and just before a bridge slightly narrower than the road. The riders will need to stay on the right side of the road, any who fail to do so having to negotiate a large triangular traffic island 230m after the sprint begins, thus losing valuable time and almost certainly ruining any chance of winning sprint points. 50m ahead, they need to negotiate a tight 90 degree right turn onto Lichfield Street.

Now a medium-sized market town, Stone has an illustrious past - it was once the capital city of the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, a kingdom that grew to encompass a vast part of England from Bristol in the south to Blackburn in the north and from the Welsh borders in the west to The Wash, parts of East Anglia and London in the east. Christianity came to the region in 650 with monks invited here by the Mercian King Penda despite the fact that he never converted and retained his pagan beliefs until his death five years later. However, it was not an easy transition: the next king, Wulfhere, was considerably less tolerant than his predecessor and murdered his sons Wulfad and Ruffin after they converted. Surprisingly, he later converted. The princes were buried at a spot now occupied by St. Michael's Church, marked by two piles of stones - this being the reason the town is named Stone.

Sandon (© Andy and Hilary CC2.0)

Lichfield Road carries the Tour right through the town and out to the south, remaining free of obvious hazards until the double mini roundabouts 1.76km from the start of the road, joining the A51 with a left turn a short while later. They pass under the railway and reach Sandon 3.4km after Stone, turning a very tight 90 degree left possibly made slippery by overhanging trees onto Milwich Lane just past the village post office (assuming it hasn't also fallen victim to Conservative policy, as so many rural post offices look set to do).

The lane is narrow with thick hedges running along either side, meaning that the peloton will be forced to spread out along the road. It also climbs around 78m before descending again over the 3.3km section to Milwich, reached 32.1km from the start. The race travels straight through the village before following a wide right-hand bend on the other side. Turning slightly left at Coton and taking the right-hand option at a fork 0.96km later, the Tour enters East Staffordshire and comes to Field after another uncategorised climb. Around 0.87km before Bramshall is a crossroads, the route to the right leading to an industrial estate - another potential spot for diesel spills - and, 188m ahead of it, a level crossing. Though of ancient origin, much of Bramshall dates only from the 1990s when several large estates were built to turn it into a dormitory town for Uttoxeter just 3km away. It's not a place to go in search of quintessential rural English charm. The second intermediate sprint begins after 44.8km from the start at 52°53'58.27"N 1°52'35.44"W.

Here Be Monsters: JCBs at Uttoxeter (© David Lally CC2.0)

Uttoxeter is one of those English placenames that tie foreign tongues in knots - however, it's one that's pronounced precisely how it's spelled, provided the letters are pronounced in the English manner, of course: -YOU-tox-IT-uh. The accepted spelling, however, has been through no less than 72 different permutations since the town was first recorded in the Domesday Book, having begun life with the Anglo-Saxon name Wuttuceshǣddre. Samuel Johnson's father ran a bookstall on Uttoxeter Market in the early 18th Century and it was here in 1945 that one Joseph Cyril Bamford set up a company selling tipping trailers he hand-welded from war surplus metal sheet - a company that grew to become JCB, one of the world's largest engineering firms and a name synonymous in many nations with back-hoe mechanical diggers. Shane Meadows, a regular inclusion on lists of greatest British directors for his films including Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England and Once Upon A Time In The Midlands was born and spent his childhood here - parts of his A Room For Romeo Brass were filmed in the school by the start of the sprint. However,  the town's most famous, illustrious and admirable son must surely be Paul Beech who, as you will already well be aware, has won the World Toe-Wrestling Championships a record six times.

Uttoxeter High Street
(© Humphrey Bolton CC2.0)

At the end Smithfield Road turns 90 degrees left at its end to join the High Street before a 90 degree right onto Bradley Street. If a rider lines up perfectly on the very right of the approach for the transition, it should be possible to go straight through without even slowing down. However, a rider who approaches from the left side of Smithfield Road will need to turn sharply; perhaps not stabilising properly as they hit the pedestrian crossing a few metres onto Bradley Street, which could be slippery if wet. Bradley Street then curves left, becoming Silver Street before a left turn at a T-junction leads along Church Street to Dove Bank and a roundabout. The first exit (left) leads onto The Dove Way and an easy route about the smaller roundabout 72km ahead, then the Tour leaves Uttoxeter behind, passing over a motorway bridge and coming to a right turn at a roundabout for the B5030.

The drinks station is located in a lay-by 50.3km from the start of the race at 52°56'4.10"N 1°51'26.08"W - this has the potential to cause crashes as the available space is quite limited. 4.55km later, the race reaches Rocester on the right of the road and, on the left, an enormous industrial complex set in extensive landscaped gardens - the world headquarters of JCB. Bamford developed a safety feature for his diggers to prevent the shovels falling to the ground and smashing anything underneath them should the hydraulic pressure be lost early on during his company's history, demonstrating his faith in the system by having a digger lift itself off the ground on its front shovel and back-hoe before driving his car underneath the machine. This trick not only proved an extremely successful way of demonstrating the failsafe mechanism, the diggers' ability to raise its own weight and perform various manoeuvres when controlled by a skilled operator made them hugely popular with the general public. This led to the formation of a display team which became the JCB Dancing Diggers, seen at various shows and events around Britain each year. Large cycling events, as we know from the displays put on by companies along the Tour de France route each year, are an excellent opportunity for a bit of free publicity; so expect JCB to be doing something spectacular as the Tour goes by.

Wootton Lodge, near Ellastone, is owned by the Bamforth
family - heirs to the JCB fortune (© John Poyser CC2.0)

If both routes around the roundabout leading into the JCB plant are open, the one to the right will be the better option since it involves a much gentler curve before the two routes join up again - the road is narrower after they do so. A little further along the road, the races passes Doveleys Manor, derelict for many years but now undergoing a full rescue and restoration project. The writers of the excellent Corners of my Mind blog know the area well and have been to have a closer look at the house.

Soon, the race reaches Ellastone, Hayslope in Eliot's Adam Bede - it's a pity that the race turns left at the junction in the village rather than right as this means the riders don't pass across the beautiful bridge guarded by two Second World War pillboxes, one of which is remarkably well-preserved and still bears traces of its camouflage paint. The stage's first categorised climb - Cat 2 Ramshorn - begins right at the junction.

The first section of the climb isn't too testing, though there are a couple of steep ramps. It begins to get steeper as the riders pass Parkgate Lane on the left, rapidly hitting 200m a short way before Wootton. The peloton follow the road as it veers left and away from the village, descending slightly past a long, thin woodland before the final part. Having followed the road as it turns right into Ramshorn village (pronounced Ramsor by locals and spelled that way by the Quaker movement, in whose early history it played an important part). The road reaches the end of the climb by a house on the right, 63.2km from the start (53° 0'51.54"N 1°53'19.41"W) - according to our data, the road continues to climb from this point but we're not as confident in it as the NASA data we used during the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, so assume the race information is correct.

"Road" near Blackbrook. Since is the Tour of Britain and
not Paris-Roubaix, the riders don't have to go up here!
(© Ian Calderwood CC2.0)

The crossroads 0.45km is an unusual one with staggered entry and exits, presumably to slow drivers down and prevent them cross Star Bank without looking for other traffic - it would be possible for a single cyclist or train of cyclists to get through without much reducing speed in the dry, but will definitely slow a peloton. The next is straight-forward and straight through, the one 0.76km after that requiring a little more thought as the exit is some 50m to the left of the entry, forcing riders to cover a short stretch of the A52 inbetween. The remaining 4.2km to the left turn at the junction with the A523 are a simple matter of following the same road - with the descent short but steep, high speeds can be expected up until Blackbrook Zoo just before the junction, at which point the road climbs again. Note that if you're visiting the area with children while the race is on, the zoo is currently offering free entry for one child with each paying adult.

Having traveled 70.2km from the start, the peloton reach the superbly-named Bottomhouse before turning right at the next crossroads to take the B5053 and left at a staggered crossroads 0.89km later. This carries the race onto Blakelow Road. The feeding zone begins just after the turning, with team stations spread along the left of the road (so as the provide a clear passage through the zone, team feed stations are always located on the left in the Tour of Britain except for in some rare and exceptional circumstances) all the way up to a waterworks (also on the left) 1.7km away. As ever, the feeding zone is potentially hazardous due to the sheer number of riders ferrying bidons and musettes back and forth.

The Roaches
(© CC3.0)

Passing straight through the next crossroads, the riders arrive at a T-junction where they'll turn left and left again to enter a very steep descent; dropping 151m on the straight 1.52km to the village. As this is going to lead to very high speed, extreme caution will be required to avoid race-ending crashes at the bend roughly halfway through. At the end, the right corner on Thorncliffe is extremely tight and leads immediately into a short narrow section - this section is also very hazardous, we'll be surprised if there are no crashes here even in the dry. The altitude continues to fall to the T-junction with the A53 1.42km away at Blackshaw Moor - according to local tradition, a secret "ley tunnel" runs under the village connecting nearby Leek to Dieulacresse abbey. Sadly, there is precious little evidence that it actually exists, but it would make an interesting and challenging section for a future Tour if it's ever discovered!

After turning a very tight 90 degree left at a junction 89m further ahead, the race approaches Meerbrook - there's a potentially slippery section after 1.06km near Tittesworth Visitor's Centre under overhanging trees. From the left-hand bend just past the Centre, there are excellent views to The Roaches (a high rocky ridge, the name coming from the French les roches) and Hen Cloud. A small colony of wallabies, descendants of those that escaped from a private zoo in the 1930s, are occasionally sighted in the area; despite failed attempts to prove beyond doubt that they're there. After another 0.47km,  the riders cross the Tittesworth Reservoir Causeway, no narrower than the road and an excellent place for panoramic views. They continue left at the junction 0.25km after the causeway.

The Category 1 climb of Gun Hill begins at 84.2km, at the village hall on the right of the road - and it's a steep one, rising 135m in 2.1km. The climb ends at a lay-by on the left after 86.3km. A short while after the top of the climb, the race reaches two crossroads, turning left at both; having descended almost 50m by this point, entry speeds will be high and thus the first turn will need to be approached with caution. The second, 100m ahead, will be approached at a much slower speed (especially by anyone who's left meat on the road at the first). They turn left again at a T-junction 1.4km later, then join the A523 0.9km ahead and reach Leek 92.7km from the start.

Greystones, Leek - and behind it, Larner Sugden's
Nicholson Institute (© David Stowell, CC2.0)

Leek has benefited greatly from the legacy of two very important 19th Century figures. The first was William Sugden, an early admirer of traditional British architecture, who arrived here in 1849 and had an enormous influence on the town, designing many of the beautiful buildings that give the town its character. The second was the great artist, socialist, philanthropist and founder of the Arts and Crafts movement William Morris who came in 1875 and, according to local rumour, began to organise the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings after mounting a successful campaign to halt the proposed demolition of Greystones, a 17th Century building now housing a tea room - this being a structure that Sugden's son Larner had saved, persuading the backers of his Nicholson Institute building that their new structure would be better sited on the land behind Greystones so that the older building would not be destroyed. Larner was to become one of the Society's greatest supporters. The town is considered of great importance among Industrial Revolution historians as most of the 19th Century mills have been preserved, the majority either converted or undergoing conversion into residential apartments. Today, there are some ugly modern developments including the supermarket on the site of the old railway station (closed since the Beeching Reports of the 1960s) in addition to some that have kept to the spirit of Sugden's enlightened views; the town overall forming perhaps the closest example to a tourist's concept of what a small English market town should look like.

Leek is also famous as one of the very few places on Earth that experiences a double sunset. It takes place once each year three or four days before Summer solstice when the setting sun dips behind Borsley Cloud - part of a nearby ridge - then reappears briefly in a hollow on the hill's near-vertical north face prior to dipping below the horizon.

Cheddleton Station is on the Churnet Valley Railway - not
connected to the national network and still running several
steam engines. This is a popular way for locals to get
around, not merely a tourist attraction. (© Roger Kidd CC2.0)

As the race enters the town, they arrive at the start of an intermediate sprint beginning right by the GATSO speed camera situated at 53° 6'28.11"N 2° 1'51.35"W. 0.3km, the race encounters a reasonably technical right turn onto the A520. The road layout reveals this to have once been a 90 degree turn, but nowadays a widened footpath obscured by the corner of the Swan pub on the right of the road means that the corner is less tight - this could catch out riders who haven't examined their maps closely enough and enter the corner having assumed it to be tighter than it is, ending up hitting the kerb outside the pub. There also appears to be a traffic island in the centre of the road just around the apex, but we estimate it will be possible to see this some 35m before reaching it, thus allowing riders opportunity to line themselves up and avoid hitting it. Nevertheless, this could prove a dangerous corner - especially as, being a bus route, there's a possibility of diesel spills on the road. The pass through the next traffic lights onto Compton and, having come straight outta it (apologies), through more traffic lights onto Cheddleton Road. The second exit (straight) of the roundabout right of a huge Brittania Building Society complex carries the race past Birchall and into a descent leading through Basford Lane Industrial Estate, another potential diesel spill hazard area, reaching Cheddleton 98.7km from the start. The town is very popular among steam enthusiasts - the caption below the photograph to the left explains why.

Having reached Wetley Rocks - also with potential for diesel spills, since it's home to a large animal rendering plant - the peloton turn left at a junction with the A522, following the road for 2.4km until another junction and a tight right turn onto the A52, then a tight left 0.39km further along onto an unclassified route known as Bank Top Road. There are some trees just around the corner on the left, meaning the exit could be slippery, and more at the next bend - a gentle left - 0.54km ahead. The riders remain left at the fork 0.4km ahead, encountering a tree-lined medium left 0.72km later then turn a very tight 90 degree left onto Godley Barn Lane 1.3km later.

Once past the point where a road joins from the right, the route becomes known as Birchenfields Lane and, 0.31km later, turns a tight right by a farm and becomes known as Trimpos. On the western outskirts of Cheadle, it changes once again to Brookhouse Lane, then again as the race passes through the croassroads onto what it now Draycott Cross Road. The final categorised climb of the stage, Cat 2 Commonside, begins 300m later at 52°58'50.52" 2° 0'33.09"W, 111.6km from the start, by the national speed limit signs (diagonal black stripe on a white background). It ends almost exactly 1km later by a gate on the right at 52°58'21.27"N 2° 1'4.58"W.

The Draycott Arms, listed in the Good Pub Guide and thus
an ideal place for a pint if watching the race makes you
thirsty. (© Ian Calderwood, CC2.0)

The race passes straight over another crossroads just after the climb, entering Cheadle Road and following it down to a T-junction next to the Draycott Arms pub at Draycott-in-the-Moors - a village once home to one Joseph Reeve who was said to have lived to be 127 years old, attributing his longevity to the fact that he never smoked, never took medicine and never drank anything between meals. According to the road book, this is the A50 - however, we're not convinced. We think the A50 is further south and that this is the unclassified Uttoxeter Road; what's more, our Ordnance Survey map for the area agrees with us. The peloton turn right onto the road, whatever it's really called, then left 0.38km further along onto Cresswell Lane, passing under the actual A50 before reaching a level crossing 0.44km later - level crossings always being hazardous due to their slippery rails and habit of collecting an assortment of puncture-causing detritus, in addition to taking time off any rider unlucky enough to have to wait.

At the next junction, around 0.95km ahead, the riders turn a tight right and arrive almost immediately at Saverley Green. Following the bend to the left as the road travels past the village, they should arrive at Fulford minutes later. The route continues through the town, coming to a crossroads with the B5066 1.7km later and turning right to head towards Meir Heath, passing through another crossroads after 1.6km and reaching the town with 122.7km covered since the beginning of the race - reaching around 254m above sea level, Meir Heath claims to be the highest town in Staffordshire. Reaching the roundabouts in the centre, the race takes the first exit (tight left) onto the A520 towards Rough Close, taking the second exit at the next roundabout onto what the roadbook called Hartwell Road but we think is Hartwell Lane.

The Hall, Barlaston. Built in 1756-8 for the Canadian
physiologist Thomas Mills by Sir Robert Taylor and
is one of the very few buildings designed by him to
retain his signature octagonal glazing. The house passed
into Wedgewood ownership in 1931, but a combination
of subsidence caused by mining, a geological fault and the
sheer neglect of its new owners saw it decline to such a state
that it was very nearly demolished in the 1980s. Fortunately,
a charity called SAVE Britain's Heritage were able to
purchase the property for the nominal sum of £1; shoring
it up and restoring it  at great expense before selling
it at a profit to a new private owner, in the process
raising funds for their continuing efforts to preserve
other endangered sites.

There are several tight bends along this section. The first is a medium left at the end of the initial 0.46 straight, leading into another 1.89km straight section, ending at a tighter left and tight right 0.1km later. The next left, medium, is 0.41km further along with a medium right 70m ahead on the edge of Barlaston. There's a wide left 0.16km ahead, then a tighter right 61m later before a right-turn at a crossroads leading onto the Wedgewood Estate, followed by another right at the next T-junction to pass along Wedgewood Drive.

With 129.7km ridden so far, the peloton reaches another T-junction and turns left for Blurton Road. This leads into a tight 90 degree right bend 0.96km later, followed immediately by a T-junction where the riders will once again turn left. At the traffic lights 0.8km ahead, they turn right onto the A5035 and arrive at Dresden another 0.8km later - we've been trying to find out if Dresden is named after the German Dresden, also famous for fine ceramics, vice versa or if it's a coincidence, but thus far have no been able to discover any information one way or the other. Anyone know?

Many have been demolished, but
a few bottle kilns - named for their
distinctive shape - can be found
tucked away around Stoke-on-Trent
(© Chris Allen CC2.0)

The riders take the second exit at bith the roundabouts either side of the A50 to travel onto The Strand, keeping right until they reach the large traffic light-controlled intersection at 134.2km and turn left onto King Street. They then arrive at a roundabout in Fenton, taking the second exit onto the A50 and another roundabout 0.26km further on, taking the second exit - probably by going the much shorter wrong way round - onto Victoria Road. The long and straight route leads on for 2km to another roundabout and another second exit for Lichfield Road and the first exit of the roundabout 0.78km ahead leading onto Potteries Way, with the riders making sure they're on the left side carriageway to avoid getting a nasty and much longer route at the 139.5km roundabout.

The second exit leads onto Broad Street and, 0.22km later, a junction where the riders will take the road to the right - it's a forked junction and can be taken at speed, leading straight onto the final sprint along Albion Street. However, this is not a normal, straight sprint - the entrance to the last section is narrow, with an extended kerbs projecting a pedestrianised area out into the road to slow traffic and then, after straight of approximately 160m, the road follows a semi-circle around the front of the Staffordshire Stoke-on-Trent Conference Bureau - it's also uphill, rising quite steeply to the end. This leads immediately to the finish line, 140km from the start at 53° 1'26.47"N 2°10'29.93"W.

Albion Street, looking west away from the finish line to the
entrance where the white car is turning right in the bottom
left. It can clearly be seen that this final section rises quite
steeply, making things difficult in the sprint to the end
(© Ian Brereton CC2.0)

Predictions: We may see a breakaway put some effort into gaining a lead towards the end of the first half in the hope of holding off the peloton's attempts to catch them in the second half - expect some of the non-Pro Teams to try this plan and grab all the points they can. The stage win could go to one of them if any of the breakaway riders have the strength to keep it up to the end. We'll also expect Geraint Thomas to do well on this one - he's a sufficiently strong rider to keep at the front all the way to the climbs but pace himself to ensure he has the reserves to do well through the climbs, thus achieving a good time and putting himself in a strategically valuable position for a shot at the final GC.

Weather: At present, Tuesday around Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire is looking set to be a lot better than Monday between Kendal and Blackpool. The main difference is the wind, which should gust no stronger than around 30kph - that's still powerful enough to blow a rider off course (meaning no deep-section rims and increasing the likelihood of those echelons that many fans seem to like so much), but it's not enough to blow them right off the road and into the fields like the 90kph blasts on Monday could have done. It should also remain dry for the first part of the stage, though there's a strong possibility of light rain in the later afternoon - the stage should have finished by that time, but even a few drops will make some of the later corners distinctly hairy. Temperatures will vary between lows of 14C and highs of 16C.

More Stage Previews: click here

Tour of Britain - Stage 2 Guide

STAGE CANCELLED DUE TO HIGH WINDS

Kendal, the Auld Grey Town (© Ally McGurk, CC2.0)

WEATHER REPORT: see the bottom of this article

Stage Map: click here
Stage Profile: click here
More Stage Guides: click here

Stage 2 is a considerably shorter ride than Stage 1 at 137.7km, but with a Category 2 climb in the first 10km it should have all but the fittest climbers feeling the burn early on. There are a pair of Cat 3s later on in the race, but a relatively flat section in between will allow the pack a chance to catch up, putting the pressure on the climbers in an effort to redress the balance and ensuring that everyone will be glad to see the finish line. However, since the finish line is marked by Blackpool's 158m tower, they're going to be able to see it while they still have a long way to go - and that saps will like nothing else when your legs are hurting and you've had enough; especially in the horrible weather predicted for today. As Geraint Thomas says, "May not be the strongest that wins today, simply the last man upright and pedalling. Can't wait!!"

Scafell Pike (© Ann Bowker)

The race starts today in the Auld Grey Town, Kendal in Cumbria's Lake District - 2292 square kilometres of lakes, moors and mountains (including England's highest, Scafell Pike), frequently included on lists of the world's most beautiful destinations. Designated a National Park in 1951 (the largest in England and Wales), all the land in England reaching an altitude greater than 914m (3000 feet) lies within its boundaries, as do the largest, longest and deepest lakes - which, with one single exception, are never termed lakes: other that Bassenthwaite Lake, they're either tarns, meres, reservoirs or waters.

In former times, Kendal was known as Kirkby Kendal - meaning a village with a church in the Kent Valley and derived from the ancient name Cherchbi, as recorded in the Domesday Book. Its nickname is derived from the grey limestone used to construct many of the buildings in the town. Today, it relies on tourism and IT as the basis of its economy, but in times past it was a centre of cloth manufacture - some manufacturing industry remains, including a pipe tobacco facility, a firm producing turbines and a baby food canning plant operated by the multinational Heinz company. The race begins, as ever, with a neutral zone; which today starts at approximately 10:30 in Abbot Hall Park and heads south along Dowker's Lane before two right turns lead onto the A6 Highgate. This carries the peloton north as far as Stricklandgate, where the riders turn right again onto Blackhall Road and over the bridge for Sandes Avenue and Station Road, following the bend and going straight ahead onto the A685 Appleby Road. After 4.2km, the neutral zone ends at Stocks Farm and the race proper gets underway (54°20'53.35"N 2°42'40.39"W).

Grayrigg (© Alexander P Kapp CC2.0)

Having passed Scalthwaiterigg, the Tour reaches Grayrigg after 4.6km, a small town that hit the headlines in 2007 following the Grayrigg Derailment, a train crash that left one person dead and thirty with serious injuries. Rescue was complicated by the isolated location with access limited to narrow, unsurfaced farm tracks; meaning that mountain rescue helicopters were used to ferry the worst-injured to hospital. The first climb of the stage, a Cat 2, begins 0.9km after Grayrigg as the peloton pass a gate on the left of the road (54°22'13.38"N  2°38'12.22"W). Whilst not too challenging for the initial sections, there are a few fairly steep parts before the road turns a medium 90 degree right 0.21km after a crossroads. It wouldn't usually be a particularly technical corner, but these narrow roads are used as droves by local farmers to move cattle and sheep from one field to another and as such can be very hazardous, especially after rain when the edges can be coated in a lethally slippery film of slurry (it's great for the roadside flowers, however).

Low Gill Viaduct (© David Ashcroft, CC2.0)

At 9.1km, the route takes a very sharp right - again, potentially slippery - onto the B6257. The summit is located 0.2km after the turning, parallel to a lay-by next to a small building among fields full of the slurry-making woolly devils (54°22'57.62"N  2°35'47.76"W). The initial half of the descent is fairly steep and - again due to the sheep and cattle - potentially hazardous despite the lack of tight corners. The underpass under the M6 motorway and railway just before Beck Foot, if used as a route between fields for livestock, could be very hazardous indeed as manure remains soft and slippery in the shade. Just south of the village, the road passes to the right of Low Gill Viaduct - a disused railway viaduct consisting of eleven arches, each 14m wide. The viaduct 190m from end to end and 30m high at the tallest point. A medium left turn lies 1.22km after the lane leading under the viaduct before the Tour reaches Firbank, 11.8km from the start of the race. It was here in 1652 that George Fox preached to a thousand people at a natural rock feature now known as Fox's Pulpit, one of many outdoor sermons he gave and among the most instrumental in bringing about the formation of the Quaker movement. The latter part of the descent is considerably less steep than the former.

Ingmire Hall (© Keith Wright, CC2.0)

After 16.6km, the route arrives at a T-junction with the A684, turning left and crossing a very narrow bridge 0.4km later. It's difficult to see just how narrow it is when approaching from the west, meaning that any rider who fails to study the parcours details sufficiently closely may find themselves running out of road and crashing into the left side railings. If too many riders attempt to cross at the same time, it will be the scene of a crash - as will the road just before it which is guaranteed to cause a pile-up if somebody doesn't brake quickly enough when arriving at the bottleneck where riders wait to cross. A medium right bend follows after 0.45km, before the race passes Ingmire Hall, a stately home of 15th Century origins but much remodeled in the years since - the house is a private residence and not open to the public; however, any spectator who fancies a closer look once the race has passed by can do so by walking along the public footpath that runs part of the way alongside the drive leading to the building.

The peloton arrives at Sedbergh after 18.6km (54°19'22.80"N 2°31'51.69"W), meaning that it is now in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. For many years, Sedbergh's economy has been based largely on its famous boarding school established in 1525 - however, the school was an addition to an already-established town rather than the town growing up around the school, as is made plain by the existence of a Saxon motte-and-bailey castle, the 12th Century parish church and a house dating to the 14th Century. It has also become known as a "book town," the six large independent bookshops and several book dealers bringing further income (and very pleasant employment opportunities) to the community. The stage's first intermediate sprint begins just before the town by a sign for Fairfield Mill (54°19'13.96"N 2°32'40.35"W). The route then takes a very tight right corner to join the A683 (Station Road). The road narrows in some sections before following the banks of the river for 100m and coming to a medium left - potential slurry again, being adjacent to a farm - 0.4km later. 0.55 from the corner is another narrow bridge over the River Lune. The bridge's exit, a slight right under overhanging trees, is also potentially hazardous due to slippery leaves, thorns etc. There is a Roman milestone, a pillar carved with Latin inscriptions, around 1.89km south of the bridge.

Easter Grotto, Ease Gill Caves

The road remains relatively level and free of difficult bends all the way to a bridge slightly narrower than the road in between Barbon and a golf course, then becomes unchallenging again all the way to Casterton located  32.3km from the start (54°12'39.54"N 2°34'40.14"W). Deep below the village are the Ease Gill Caves, until recent reclassification put them into second place behind the Welsh Ogof Draenen system (discovered in 1994 and yet to be fully explored) , the most extensive discovered in Britain. However, its 76km of passages, some of them flooded and thus accessible only to skilled cave divers (an activity that sounds about as fun as having your toenails ripped out with pliers to us), remain the country's most complex network.

Ruskin's View (CC3.0)

2.2km further south is the Devil's Bridge, one of the best-preserved medieval bridges in Britain and which - according the legend shared by many of the other bridges around the world with the same name - was built by the Devil after an old woman made a pact offering him the soul of the first person to cross it. Once he'd finished, the old lady outwitted him by throwing a piece of bread to the other side so that her dog chased after it, thus permitting the devil only the dog's soul. The same legend says that the Great Stone of Fourstones, deposited by an ice age glacier nearby, in fact fell from the Devil's purse as he carried the stones with which he built the bridge. We suspect that nowadays he prefers an Amex Black card. Every Sunday, the bridge becomes a meeting point for hundreds of motorcyclists and for the rest of the week scuba divers can be seen in the river below it. The stage's second intermediate sprint begins as the race passes the car park at the bridge and ends 100m later at the T-junction with the A65. If you're visiting, the little town of Kirkby Lonsdale on the opposite bank is well worth seeing - especially for the view from the churchyard at the northern end of the town, painted by Turner in 1816 and called "one of the loveliest views in England" by the art patron and social reformer John Ruskin: hence its modern name Ruskin's View.

Having turned left onto the much wider road, the peloton round a sweeping right bend and come to a junction and tight right turn leading back onto the A683, immediately crossing the border into Lancashire - in fact, there are sufficient points of reference here that with careful use of a GPS device or good old-fashioned map reading skill, it should be possible to locate a point here where a person would be in Lancashire, Cumbria and North Yorkshire simultaneously.

Thurland Castle (© Karl and Ali CC2.0)

A medium right-hander lies 2.17km south of the junction, then the race arrives at Nether Burrow followed by Tunstall 1.9km later. The landscape here is much flatter than the earlier parts of the stage. Just south of Tunstall and just visible from the route is Thurland Castle (54° 9'7.03"N 2°35'52.05"W). Built in the 14th Century, it fell in a siege in the middle of the 17th Century. It remained a ruin until 1809 when a limited restoration was carried out, full restoration taking place two decades later. Fifty years after restoration, it was left as a hollow shell by  a disastrous fire - only to be restored once again in the years that followed. In recent years it has been divided up and converted into doubtless horribly expensive apartments.

Wennington School (© J Scott CC2.0)

A very sharp right 0.45km after the turning for the castle leads to a tunnel under the railway into Melling, with a church dedicated to St. Wilfrid and often called the Cathedral of the Lune Valley (though it never was a cathedral in reality). It is believed to have started life as a chapel in the now-vanished bailey of the motte standing immediately behind it, one of many in the highest concentration of Norman castles anywhere in Britain other than the Welsh borders. The race turns left just before the church, following an unclassified road leading to a fork where the riders go right onto Lodge Lane, arriving at Wennington 44.1km from the start. Just north of the village is Wennington School, a boys' boarding school housed in a mid-19th Century stately home which, as a result of architectural trends of the time, looks very much how many of us would imagine the 14th Century house that originally stood here to have looked. Arriving at a T-junction with the B6480, the peloton turn sharply right to arrive shortly at Tatham and pass a bridge on the right; then, a short while later, enter the Forest of Bowland - the word forest is used here in its original English sense of meaning an expanse of land used for hunting rather than a large woodland. Two left/right Z-bends either side of a bridge start 1km south of the Tatham bridge, leading immediately into Wray.

Though a tiny rural village, Wray has three claims to fame: first, it has an advanced wireless broadband network offering not only internet but also high-definition television, maintained by Lancashire University; second, it's the Scarecrow capital of England; third, it hosts the not-quite-world-famous Annual Maggot Races. You know it's got to be a great place to live.

Hornby Castle (CC2.0)

The road narrows as it leaves the village, soon passing just south of Hornby at the 49.4km point. Hornby Castle, dating from the 13th Century but much altered over the years into a stately home, should be visible from several points along this road. It remains in private ownership, though now divided into several separate dwellings, and is not open to the public. Having passed over a crossroads, the peloton reach the drinks station 600m later at Lunesdale Court. 0.61km later, the race reaches a T-junction with the A683 and turns left, heading south to pass by Farleton and arrive at Claughton soon afterwards - the village has a large brickworks, thus increasing the probability of hazardous diesel spills on the road from the heavy trucks that deliver materials and take bricks away. Note the aerial ropeworks, a system similar to a cable car, that brings clay from Claughton Moor some distance away in enormous buckets to the brickworks.

Artle Beck (© Karl and Ali CC2.0)

Caton is around 2.89km from Claughton, not 8.1km as the road book suggests (this is apparently a mis-print as it lists points beyond Caton as being less than the 60km from the start listed for Caton). There's a truck repair garage on the eastern side of the village, increasing the potential for diesel spillages once again. Caton is known to have been a Roman town, as proved by the discovery of a millstone inscribed with the name of Emperor Hadrian in the nearby Artle Beck in 1803. The routes passes by the Ship Inn, standing near to a massive oak of great age which, according to local legend, was used by the local monks to display the fish they sold to villagers. The third intermediate sprint begins after 56.4km by the council offices in the town. The race takes the second exit to pass directly through the roundabout, then turns left 300m later onto Quernmore Road. There's a tight 90 degree right at Gresgarth Hall 1.2km from the previous corner - with extensive ornamental grounds open to the public, anyone with an interest on gardening or stately homes should consider a visit once the Tour has left, then an unchallenging wide left/roght Z-bend 0.61km later, followed by a medium left a short way ahead. A medium right on the far edge of a copse could prove slippery and leads to a medium left bend 135m before a medium left corner onto Postern Gate Road. With the exception of a few gentle bends, the route is straight for the next 3.1km to Quernmore, pronounced kwormur in that cunning way with which we Brits like to confuse foreigners.

Strickens Lane - if you're following the route, pay close
attention to your map through the Quernmore-Whittingham
section: there are several corners and junctions and the all
look much the same as this one! (© Tom Richardson CC2.0)

Having passed straight through one crossroads immediately south of the village to enter Bay Horse Road and another where Bay Horse Road crosses Proctor Moss Road, the race reaches a third crossroads 69.5km from the start (53°58'42.16"N 2°45'50.07"W) and turns left onto Delph Lane. The Category 3 climb begins as the race passes to the left of a house and farm (53°57'10.02"N 2°43'23.13"W) with a cattle grid coming 300m further along the road. Another one, 2km ahead, comes 290m before the summit (53°55'57.95"N 2°42'28.85"W). 1.2km ahead, having rounded the medium left around Oakenholme, the peloton turn a medium-sharp right onto Strickens Lane and immediately begin the next climb - the summit is 0.7km ahead (53°55'0.48"N 2°42'44.13"W), shortly before a lane leading up the hill on the right to Bank Farm. The descent isn't steep but due to the straight and undemanding roads should generate high speed.

A short way ahead, the road bends sharply left as a smaller road joins from the right, continuing on through Barnacre and past a turning onto Sullom Side Lane before becoming Sandholm Lane after 81.7km. At what appears to be a 90 degree right bend 0.52km later, the race continues straight ahead to remain on Sandholm Lane (following the apparent bend leads onto Ray Lane), past a farm on the right and onward to another crossroads. Turn left to remain on Smithy Lane, arriving presently at a junction with a potentially slippery left turn under overhanging trees onto Lodge Road running parallel to the M6 motorway and passing through some thick copses to a junction where left carries the race onto Ducketts Lane.

Inglewhite (© Chris Shaw CC2.0)

After 0.8km, the road takes a wide bend to the right and becomes Lydiate Lane, crossing the narrow Badger Bridge half a kilometre further on. At the T-junction 1.2km ahead, turn left onto Bilsborough Lane shortly before it becomes Bourne Brow and then Carron Lane. After 90 degree left, it changes back to Bilsborough Lane again and heads into Inglewhite, once the sight of a cafe housed in the old smithy that was popular with cyclists but has now closed. The village's name is believed to derive from the Gaelic term aingeal, meaning "fire" and referring to the willo-the-wisps which in former times were commonly observed upon the damp village green.

Passing straight through on Inglewhite Road, the peloton arrive at a crossroads while still in the village, travelling straight across and on towards a junction where a road joins from the right. The route goes straight ahead again here and a short way ahead when joined from the same direction by another road, arriving soon at a crossroads where Mill Lane and Syke House Lane join from right and left. They pass straight through once again and arrive at a 90 degree tight right 0.75km later, opposite a farm; travelling through an industrial site a short way ahead - as ever, potential for hazardous diesel spillages. Another crossroads marks the passing of Horns Lane, then a medium 90 degree left 0.37km ahead leads into a much wider right and a medium 90 degree right 0.61km later.

There are many Dun Cow legends in Britain. Most probably
recount fanciful tales of the extinct aurochs, wild cows
far larger and fiercer than the domesticated variety

The next section is unchallenging, though a medium left by the next farm could require some caution if wet. Ashley Lane leads off to the right 0.14km later while the race continues for another 0.79km to a tight 90 degree right onto Halfpenny Lane just before Longridge. A large rib hangs above the doorway of a farmhouse along Halfpenny Lane - according to legend, it belonged to a giant cow named the Dun Cow who roamed the area during a plague outbreak, curing people by giving them her milk. When she died of exhaustion after a witch milked her into a sieve rather than a bucket, she was buried - apart from the rib - under Cow Hill a short way from here. Nobody has ever taken a sample from the rib to ascertain what it comes from, but nowadays people tend to assume it belonged to either a whale or an aurochs, the vast and fierce wild cows which once roamed Europe.

Whittingham Hospital - once the largest mental asylum
in Great Britain (CC2.0)

At a T-junction 0.8km ahead, the race turns right onto the B5269 running straight and level into the parish of Whittingham at 99.1km from the start where the road suddenly takes a sweeping turn to the right preceding a very tight 100 degree left corner 0.29km ahead. As more houses begin to appear along the roadsides, the race reaches Whittingham's largest village Goosnargh. Work began on a mental asylum near the village in 1869, opening to provide treatment (or what passed for psychiatric treatment in the 1870s, at any rate) for 1000 patients four years later - bizarrely, the hospital incorporated a brewery in the early days. By 1939, it had grown to include a Catholic chapel, an Anglican church, a butcher, several farms, a telephone exchange, reservoirs, a gasworks and a post office and was home to more than 3500 patients - making it the largest mental hospital (as asylums had been renamed) in Great Britain.

Chingle Hall, scene of much spookiness

Finally, by 1960, the psychiatric establishment as a whole began to realise that mentally ill people required specialised, individual treatment rather than being herded into what was little more than a vast, grim prison. Allegations of cruelty made by patients against staff, both here and at other hospitals, forced the hospitals to open up to inspection and the findings were unfavourable. After almost a century, Whittingham's asylum began to be wound down, patients being reallocated to smaller units where they could be given the sort of help they needed. The last patients left the hospital - now offering modern treatments but located in buildings hopelessly outdated, in 1995. There are plans to convert the remaining buildings into apartments, but these have been held back by uncertainty over the future of the proposed Broughton bypass.

As would be expected, locals tell of all sorts of unearthly goings-on taking place in the hospital buildings at night. Just west of the village, 14th Century Chingle Hall, said to be the most haunted place in Lancashire. Tapping noises are supposedly heard coming from the known priest holes; regular claims that ghostly figures have been seen gliding around the house and grounds, including various monks around the hallway and stairs; a poltergeist is blamed for moving things around in the kitchen and orbs, mysterious lights, disembodied voices and other similar stuff is recorded whenever anyone gets permission from the house's owner to carry out an investigation (it's funny how ghost hunters never leave a property saying, "Nope, didn't find a thing," isn't it?)

Goosnargh. Looks normal, doesn't it? Ooooh no. It was
designed by Stephen King and Hieronymous Bosch. When
they were both on LSD. (© David Metcalfe CC2.0)

One strange story claims that, during the 1970s, one of the beams in the building's chapel mysteriously went up in flames before just as mysteriously going out again, leaving no signs of charring nor smell of smoke. That beam, and several others, have long been known to be carved with strange symbols; however, dendrochronological and chemical investigation has revealed that the timbers are firstly much older than the house and secondly have an unusually high salt content (as do those in the parish church), suggesting that they were recovered from a foundered ship - an not uncommon practice in the past and suggesting that the spooky carvings are nothing more weird than ancient ship builder's marks, an earlier variant of the marks still left on wood by craftsmen today. The spontaneous flames? Well, try to explain it if you wish. I don't feel the need to spend undue time thinking about it.

Oh, and as if giant cows, haunted houses and derelict mental asylums aren't enough weirdness for one rural English village, the parish was home between 1962 and 1991 to the UK Warning and Monitoring System which left a huge, then top-secret, nuclear bunker lying derelict many metres underground; a facility that would have been the Northern Britain Command Centre had the Cold War ever developed into an atomic war.

Mid-18th Century milestone in Broughton.
The symbol on top reveals it to be a point
where Ordnance Surveyors have
measured altitude above sea level
(© Trish Steel CC2.0)

After passing under the M6 motorway, the race reaches Broughton - and what a pleasure it is to find such a normal place, its only claims to fame being that it has the oldest primary school in Britain (established in 1590) and that it's the only parish in the country to have fire, ambulance and police stations within its boundaries. The race travels straight through a crossroads controlled by traffic lights in the town and onto Woodplumpton Lane, turning a medium 90 degree right 0.49km later and a medium 90 degree left 0.22km after that.

A bridge carries the road over the railway, then it arrives at Woodplumpton after 107.1km, missing the larger part of the village as it skirts around the northern side by continuing along the B5269. Local weirdness reappears here, because the village churchyard includes the grave of one Meg Shelton - otherwise known as "The Fylde Hag." Said to have had the ability to change into animal shape at will, she was apparently buried vertically with head pointing downwards and her grave covered by a heavy boulder after she refused to stay in it! She could also transform inanimate objects into apparently living creatures, as when she turned a bucket into a goose to disguise the fact that she was stealing milk - the farmer only caught her out when he saw milk dripping from the goose's beak and kicked it, at which point it turned back into a bucket.

After turning right at a T-junction near the village, the peloton come to a wide left bend followed by a narrow bridge over the Lancaster Ship Canal 0.16km later. The first 0.94km of the road into Inskip is straight, but there are several difficult bends and corners in the remaining stretch. The first is a medium right/left Z-bend at the junction with School Lane, followed by a medium-tight 90 degree left corner near a farm 0.22km - this one being made potentially more hazardous by overhanging trees. A tighter 90 degree right lies 0.1km ahead, leading into a 0.4km straight, then a medium left and a medium 90 degree right 77m later. Another medium left 0.27km further along leads to a 0.35km straight, then a medium right. All of these corners are made more hazardous due to their location on arable land, making diesel spills and slurry a possibility. The remaining road into Inskip is straightforward with one simple bend right before the village.

Inskip radio masts, now disused (© Keith Wright CC2.0)

Just south-west of Inskip are four 183m radio masts, once used to send and receive communications between submarines and the Royal Navy who owned the site (officially classified as HMS - "Her Majesty's Ship" - Nightjar) up until 2010. A medium 90 degree right lies 1.4km after the village, followed by a much tighter 90 degree left 0.2km later and a tight right leading into a gentle left-hand bend at Crossmoor. Having passed by a lane on the left, the race reaches another tight right-hander 0.4km later, then a tight 90 degree left 40m ahead to join Lodge Lane. A medium-difficulty left/right Z-bend lies 0.4km futher on before the road straightens out and arrives at Elswick, 116.1km from the start (53°50'17.61"N 2°52'48.63"W). The route passes straight through the village before coming to a pair of 90 degree bends, right/left, at the end and heading toward Thistleton, coming to a very tight 100 degree right at a T-junction 1.47km after Elswick and a T-junction with the A585 0.56km later. Turning right, the peloton cover a very short section before turning left and rejoining the B5269 81m ahead and, having turned right at the next junction, arriving at Singleton after 1.4km.

Poulton-le-Fylde market square. The stone "bench" is in
fact a fish slab, from which fresh fish was sold and the ball-
topped stone pillar is a whipping post, to which petty
criminals were tied before being lashed. Just out of shot
are the stocks (© Alexander P Kapp CC2.0)

The race turns right at a mini roundabout in the village, passing onto Lodge Lane leading north into the countryside - the first part has overhanging trees and thus could be slippery, but the road is wide and good quality. It joins the A566 after 1.36km at a junction in Little Singleton, the peloton travelling straight ahead - there's a small traffic island in the middle of the junction, positioned where it could form an obstacle for riders on the right of the pack if they attempt to get through en masse, but it shouldn't cause problems if the main group has spread out a little by this time (this, meanwhile, is unlikely on a stage such as this one). At a large roundabout north of Poulton-le-Fylde. This town, home to nearly 20,000 people has been inhabited for some 120 centuries, as made evident by the discovery of worked antler artifacts carbon dated to 10,000 BCE, had an unusual tradition in which the wealthy buried dead family members at night following a torch-lit procession through the streets - it died out in 1810 after the wind blew sparks from the torches and set fire to an entire row of buildings along the market square, destroying them. The riders take the second exit off the roundabout, the route to the left of the centre being the easiest and - marginally - shortest.

No.712, a double-decker tram at Blackpool

At a very similarly-sized roundabout 2km along Amounderness Way, the race takes the third exit (or second, for those who prefer to tackle it by taking the slightly shorter right path around the centre), continuing straight ahead to the next roundabout. At this one, on the very edge of Cleveleys and surrounded to the north and east by Thornton, the peloton take the second exit, turning a slight left into the town and towards the coast. 1.1km later, the arrive at a diffiicult left turn onto Crescent East - the corner itself isn't especially tight or wide, but Crescent East is separated from the parallel Crescent West by a central strip which could easily catch out any rider who takes the turn too fast to avoid it. They'll also need to exercise caution to avoid the tramlines, Blackpool being one of the very few places in Britain to retain an functioning tram network: now featuring 18km of tracks, construction began in 1885 - making it one of the first in the world and, today, one of the oldest still in operation. It's also one of a very small number around the world to use double-decker trams.

The Miners' Home (© Tom Richardson CC2.0)

After 0.8km, Crescent East becomes Kelso Avenue which in turn becomes Queen's Promenade as it emerges from the buildings at Anchorsholme Park before joining the seafront and continuing south past the Norbreck Castle Hotel - really not Blackpool's most attractive - and the grand Miners' Home, once a convalescent home for elderly, sick or injured miners since converted into highly-sought-after apartments. The race is now on The Promenade, the final section of the stage.

The tramlines run along their own fenced-off strip parallel to the road here, meaning they no longer pose any danger as the race arrives at North Pier and enters the famous Golden Mile - actually seven miles (11.27km) - and Britain's first seaside resort, having grown up to provide for the needs first for the wealthy and fashionable socialites of the 18th Century who came here to "take the cure" and, later, for the vast numbers of workers who flocked here from the industrial towns and mills of North-Eastern England in the latter part of the 19th Century. From here, it's a final flat, straight, high-speed sprint over 300m to the finish line at the Tower (53°48'56.98"N 3° 3'21.40"W).

Blackpool Tower (© Steve F CC2.0)

Grade 1 listed, 158m tall Blackpool Tower cost £290,000 to build in the last decade of the 19th Century with £2000 personally donated by Mayor John Bickerstaffe who had originally suggested the project after being inspired by the Eiffel Tower during a visit to Paris. Though the two towers appear superficially similar, they're actually completely different in many ways - for a start, the French tower is 166m taller and free-standing, whereas Blackpool's tower is anchored to a base disguised by a building occupied by the Tower Circus. Consisting of 2,993,000kg of metal and around 5,000,000 bricks, it was designed so that were it to ever fall it would fall into the sea rather than onto the dense town behind and to either side of it. Three years after completion, the top caught fire and could be seen from 80km away. Originally, the metal was not protected by paint and the structure became so badly corroded that by 1921 it looked as though it might have to be demolished. However, recognising its enormous ability to attract tourists, it was decided to save it and over the next three years all the metalwork was painstakingly replaced piece by piece.

Predictions: Well, we did fancy Jens Voigt for this stage - it looks like the sort of parcours that can be won by attacking hard all the way, and that's what Jens does best. However, as we all know, bad fortune struck LeopardTrek once again in Stage 1 and Jens was forced to abandon. Mark Cavendish was always going to be a favourite today - the course is reasonably flat for much of its length and end with a flat, straight sprint that suits the HTC-Highroad lead-out down to the ground. But, Cav has a very powerful enemy for today - Nature. With Hurricane Katia showing off out in the Atlantic, north and west Britain is being battered by strong winds. Heading up to the finish line, these are going to form blasting crosswinds smashing into the race from the right. That's enough to mess up even the most well-rehearsed tactics.

Weather: This is the Lake District. How do you think all those deep glacial valleys became full of water? The region has some of the highest average rainfall anywhere in Europe - it's looking at present like the wide band of rain expected to cross the region early in the morning will be followed by a dry period, but accurate forecasting in this part of the world is difficult even without a hurricane complicating matters. Temperatures will rise no higher than 17C and should fall no lower than 14C - but with the wind (and rain, if it does), it'll feel much colder. The wind is likely to cause problems - while there is no Met Office weather warning for the area currently, there's an official Yellow Alert (risk of disruption to transport and the possibility of damage to trees and stuctures) in place for  NW England  for the entire of Monday.

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