The routes through Yorkshire

Tour de France 2014 - Stage one: Starts in Leeds and ends in Harrogate taking in the Yorkshire Dales. That is beautiful countryside, I just hope it is a sunny day so that the riders can appreciate it. Just reading the names of those towns brings back wonderful memories of times past. I was brought up in Morley near Leeds and spent a lot of time visiting those places on the map. Although Pam and I lived on the Wirral for 34 years, I always felt that Yorkshire was my spiritual home.

Tour de France 2014 -Stage two: Starts in Sheffield and ends in York. That route goes close to Penistone where I used to live before moving to the Wirral. The riders will eventually pass through some of the posh parts of the county – Keighley, Harrogate, Knaresborough and York.

I am torn between going there to watch it live or following the progress on television with a nostalgic tear in my eye.
Already, I have this Yorkshire tune going through my head!

Where hast thou been since I saw thee (where have you been since I last saw you?)
On Ilkley Moor baht 'at. (on Ilkley Moor without a hat)
(repeat several  times just to get the idea)
I've been a-courting Mary Jane, (courting is the old fashioned term for dating)
On Ilkley Moor baht 'at.
I've been a-courting Mary Jane
I've been a-courting Mary Jane
On Ilkley Moor baht 'at,
On Ilkley Moor baht 'at,
On Ilkley Moor baht 'at. (as you will have gathered, this tune is a bit repetitive!)
Thou'll 't surely catch thy death of cold on Ilkley Moor baht ‘at; etc. (You will, for sure, catch a cold and die)

Then we shall have to bury thee;
Then worms will come and et thee oop; (the worms will eat you up)
Then dooks will come and et oop worms; (the ducks will then eat the worms)
Then we  will come and et oop dooks; (we will eat up the ducks)
Then we  will have our loved ones back.