WHILE people are still wondering if the Dales are going to be crammed to the hill tops with cyclists and spectators for Le Tour – or unnaturally empty because the roads will be closed and no cars can get in – it’s great to see all the yellow bikes popping up on walls, in gardens and shop windows in the Dales, ready for Le Grand Depart. All good fun. Pity about the soggy health and safety officials but there’s still plenty of bunting and little jumpers to gladden the heart.

Also lots of cyclists. Already. Masses of them.

A group of French cyclists whizzed past the bottom of our garden this week.

There were groups of Dutch and Germans taking a breakin Richmond and about 30 gathered around the signpost in Scorton (why?). Suddenly all the roads are full of people on bikes, many of them en masse. And many not used to our narrow, winding, steep roads.

Most of the cyclists are wonderful and friendly and sensible. A few are idiots.

Tricky to know which is which when you round a bend and find them in front of you. So, please drive carefully.

Squashing cyclists, on balance, doesn’t really say Welcome to Yorkshire.