Tour de France parade arrives on ferry in Hull

The Tour de France publicity cars left Hull's King George Dock at about 08:30 BST

Dozens of articulated lorries carrying the Tour de France parade vehicles and start and finish sets have arrived in Hull.

Up to 60 lorries containing the floats that precede the race along the route arrived at King George Dock earlier.

The 180-vehicle procession is an integral part of the event and stretches for 12km (7.4 miles).

The Grand Depart, the opening stages of the event, will take place in Yorkshire over the weekend of 5 and 6 July.

The procession of vehicles promoting the event and its sponsors travels in front of the riders throwing gifts and sweets to the spectators.

It takes almost two hours to completely pass any point on the route, tourism organisation Welcome to Yorkshire said.

The lorries arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge and the convoy left the docks at about 08:30 BST, after being greeted by the new Lord Mayor of Hull, Mary Glew, and members of the City of Culture bid team.

Mrs Glew said she "felt proud to be the first city in Yorkshire to welcome the Tour de France".

Leg one of the tour de France runs from Leeds to Harrogate via the Yorkshire Dales on Saturday.

Leg two will run from York to Sheffield via the steep Holme Moss hill climb in the Pennines on Sunday.