Demi etape du Tour ?

Taking the long route to the shops up Oliver's Mount the other day I had an idea.
How about looking at one of next year's stages of Le Tour de France and producing a half scale version on Oliver's Mount. Half the distance and half the climbing. There's a relatively flat circuit around the top and a hilly one that goes down the side. A suitable combination of laps of each circuit and hey presto..

Here's what it's like on a motorbike

This year's Scarborough Festival of Cycling uses the Mount for a series of closed circuit road races, including ones that are part of the youth national circuit and is extremely popular. Most of this, it seems, is down to the great big hill which lets everyone else have a laugh at the sprinters who normally take the honours on the flatter circuits.

We have the Auto 66 Club to thank for giving the circuit great surface and making it fairly simple to close it to traffic - though not without some expense -.

+ apologies for the absence of an accent on "etape" One day I'll figure out how to do it.

An aerial view

Uphill fun