I looked into this the other evening as most of my cycling mad extended family are going to try and convene somewhere on the loop section preferably with some access to a TV. As we will have a large party with some less able, I don't think we can take them trekking miles to find the right spot.
I have ruled out driving as I think parking will be a nightmare, plus from where we are staying that weekend we can get the train to Dorking Deepdene quite easily. On Google maps walking from the train station to the Road Race Festival on Denbies Wine Estate looks fine, and then from there you can walk further North to Old London Road which I believe is the nearest part of the loop section to the big screen.
It looks quite walkable on googlemaps, however, I have two reservations. Firstly that nearly everyone will try and do the same thing as us (watch them do the loop 9 times on Old London Road and then leg it to the big screen at Denbies) which could turn what looks like an easy walk into a battle through a huge crowd. And the other thing that could put a spanner in the works is dependent on where they start the ticketed only section from - I would be grateful if anyone has any detailed information on the exact limits of the ticketed only zone of Box Hill? From what I can find it is just the Zig Zag Road section, however, to get to the looped section on Old London Road you have to go past the base of Zig Zag Road, leaving me wondering if we will get there to find we can't get through without tickets and face taking a huge detour.
My other plan is to use one of those small portable TVs as various family members hopefully still own one as we have used them on previous TdFs, only I don't know if Surrey have/will have done the digital switch over by then? (As I doubt I will get good enough 3g to watch it on my phone). The upside of doing this is we could get a roadside BBQ on the go if we're not rushing to the big screen, bit of a family tradition when watching cycling, if the Olympic Nazis don't make us put it out that is.
I'm pleased you've created a thread on this as I was just about to, and would appreciate your thoughts on what to do/pool information. I have to say I'm objecting to pay for tickets to watch a road race and hope that we can organise a decent day without them.
Only other thought is that where Zig Zag Road changes to Boxhill Road there is a Smith and Western restaurant right on a very good bit of the loop. I wonder if they will be doing a BBQ with a TV screen or if we could persuade them to get a CycleChat one organised? I think I'll call them tomorrow and shall post back, would be a good excuse for a big CycleChat get together.
