May was once just another month albeit a nice month in spring with thoughts turning to the longer, warmer days of summer. Then in May 2015, two things happened. Hot on the heels of the visit of the Tour de France to Britain’s largest county in 2014, the Tour de Yorkshire was created. Later that month, Laura and Tim Moss organised the first Cycling Touring Festival in Clitheroe. No longer was May ‘just another month’ but a month to anticipate eagerly in advance and in 2020, with both events returning for their sixth editions, that continues to be the case, perhaps even more so.

Although Yorkshire is a big place, it’s not that big. So it’s hardly surprising if an annual cycle race of many hundreds of kilometres comes close to where you happen to live if you are a local resident. But it’s still rather special when it actually passes along your street, as was the case in 2014 when the Tour de France paid its visit:

The route for the 2020 Tour de Yorkshire was revealed yesterday and West Yorkshire – my corner of the county – has done well:

Here are the detailed routes for the men’s race…

And those for the women’s race:

And both races come straight past my front door near Stainland. It will be on Saturday 2nd May – day 3 for the men and day 2 for the women – as the cyclists make their way up and down the Pennines from Barnsley to Huddersfield. Then on Day 4 – the final day for the men, the stage kicks off, for the third year in a row, from The Piece Hall in Halifax, just next door to where I work. It should be a fun weekend!

Then, of course, later in May, it’s the Cycle Touring Festival. A little more sedate than the razzmatazz of the Tour de Yorkshire but nevertheless just as enjoyable…