Our tour started at Newton Abbot station, where five of us from Devon met to catch the 07:58 train to Preston. This brought us to Preston for 1349 where we met Ben Graham from Morpeth, who had applied from the national advertising for the tour. Luke, the seventh and final member of the tour, would meet us tomorrow evening at Malham.

We had good weather, and once we had negotiated some rather busy roads to get out of Preston the scenery started to improve quite dramatically. We stopped for a rest at Burholme Bridge, Whitewell, since someone had helpfully placed a seat there on the triangle of grass at the road junction, and it was just pleasant to soak up the peaceful scenery as the River Hodder flowed under the bridge.

Dunsop Bridge boasted a Post Office and general store, which provided some much needed refreshments while we watched the many ducks on the Village Green.

From there it wasn't far to the hostel at Slaidburn, which was right in the centre of the village. The hostel was interesting, but once we had finished our showers the main thing of interest was the evening meal, which really wasn't bad.

Ryan realised earlier in the day that he had forgotten to bring his helmet! Michael rang home and managed to arrange for Julian to post it up to Dentdale hostel, where hopefully it would be waiting for us when we arrived.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Our room at Slaidburn was comfortable enough, but it was a little too hot for our liking, so it wasn't the best night.

The Yorkshire Dales, being geologically formed almost entirely of limestone, is famous for its limestone features, resulting from the fact the limestone is slightly soluble in water. With this in mind we rode the fifteen miles or so to Clapham, where we parked our bikes and walked up the very long path to Ingleborough Cave. All the way up the valley we were following the Clapham Beck river which emerges from a cave next to Ingleborough Cave at Clapham Beck Head. This is the same river that, earlier in its life, falls into Gaping Ghyll as Fell Beck.

Once we had negotiated a good group discount we went on the tour of the cave. It really as one of the best Show Caves we had ever seen, with flowstone formations that put many other caves into a poor second place. There were several interesting features that had all been given names, like the Gothic Arch, Alligator's Head and Pool of Reflections. All in all it made an interesting tour that we all felt had been well worth the walk.

Next we took the main road route to Settle, an interesting town where we made a point of visiting the local cycle shop, Settle Cycles, that Michael had visited on a previous tour. It must have been one of the largest and best equipped cycle shops in the country, catering especially well for touring cycles. Nearby was the steam train station.

Leaving Settle involved a long steep climb that took a good deal of energy, so when we eventually reached the Scaleber Force waterfall we were glad to stop for a look around. There wasn't so much water in it today so it didn't look its best, but we could imagine how it might look in winter.

After a bit more climbing we eventually dropped down to Malham, a picturesque village in the heart of the Dales. Nearby was the youth hostel, where we were in an annexe as usual that had been named The Fold. After showers we settled down for our second hostel meal of the tour.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

We made an early start this morning as all the places we wanted to see today were quite close to the hostel. By 9.20 we had set off for the half mile journey to the Malham Cove path.

Malham Cove is a very unusual feature, caused by a river flowing over limestone over millions of years. The river, the Malham Beck, used to flow over the top, but it found a way down through the limestone many years ago, forming caves inside, and now the river flows out at the bottom of the Cove. We spent an enjoyable time climbing along the ridge above the Malham Beck and admiring the many swallows nests secured under the overhangs.

Next stop was Gordale Scar, which meant retracing our steps back through Malham and riding a mile or two in the other direction. When we arrived we found a series of waterfalls flowing through the Scar, the lowest of which formed an almost perfect bathing pool complete with shower. Ryan always gets very excited about water features, especially when he can get in them, so it was no surprise that he was the first into the pool. Michael was second in, which was unusual for him as he normally likes to stay dry, but he seemed to have a whale of time in the fast-flowing waterfall. Luke and Gavin followed, but the others preferred to stay dry, apart from John who dipped his hair in the pool just to say he had joined in the fun. Oliver's excuse was that he was managing the filming, which I suppose was reasonable.

We must have enjoyed more than an hour there in the water, but eventually we dragged ourselves away, got changed, and followed the lane up behind the Scar which eventually joined a track called Mastiles Lane. This was a shortcut recommended in the CTC Route Guide, but it was quite hilly and rough in places and seemed to take us forever to get over to Kilnsey Crag. The scenery was great though, and it gave us a proper appreciation for the unspoiled moorland of the Yorkshire Dales. John and Oliver, while waiting for everyone to catch up, set up a game of cricket with a stone and a branch,

Mastiles Lane finished with a great downhill, which joined the road at Kilnsey Crag. From there we rode a few more miles before finding a pleasant spot for lunch, by the River Wharfe at New Bridge, Kettlewell. We had some greedy ducks for company, so Oliver kept them well fed.

We had another thirteen miles to the hostel, taking us along the river through Wharfedale to Buckden. We couldn't help noticing at feature near Cray that looked remarkably like a small version of Malham Cove. It had been created by a similar process, this time by the Cray Gill Beck, so of course this was called Cray Gill Waterfall.

The hostel at Aysgarth Falls was a massive multi-storey building with a large rear car park. It was nothing special inside, but it was interesting to have so many floors. We had an evening meal provided here, the last for a few days. There was a good games room in the hostel with a pool table, which provided entertainment during the evening.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

When Gavin had finished pumping his tyre - again - Oliver had reset the altimeter on his cycle computer to it no longer thought we were at 22000 feet above sea level, we headed off down the road to Aysgarth Falls, used to film part of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves in 1991.

Next stop, after a ten-mile ride, was Hardraw Force waterfall, the highest single-drop waterfall in England. We had to walk up a long path to get to it, but it was worth the walk when we found we could walk on a ledge behind the waterfall. As Gavin pointed out, however, some of the stones on the overhang above us didn't look particular secure!

We rode on to the village of Hawes, in the hear of Wensleydale, and after riding through the village the first place that caught our attention was The Ropemakers. None of us had ever seen a Ropemakers before, and this place was not only open but had a visitor centre and a shop! We didn't realise how many different types of knot there are, although Gavin was please to demonstrate that he knew at least one of them - the Reef Knot - which he had been taught in Scouts. Some of the machines in there were fascinating, weaving many different-coloured cords into a single rope. And Gavin and Ben loved the musical tubes in the shop that acted and sounded a bit like bicycle pumps.

Just opposite The Ropemakers was the Dales Countryside Museum. Some of us took a quick look around the shop and cafe and then ate their lunch, but Ryan and Luke decided to pay to go in and look at the museum itself.

As we were in Wensleydale, we next rode up through Hawes village to the Wensleydale Creamery where the was a Visitor Centre complete with Cheese Shop. They had free samples of loads of different cheeses, including every variety of Wensleydale cheese of course, so some of us spent a considerable time in there trying all the cheeses.

Have spent what felt like most of the day in and around Hawes (it's clearly a very interesting place) we rode the last eight or so miles to Dentdale hostel, stopping just before dropping into Dentdale itself to look at the impressive Dent viaduct. Here Ryan and Luke recounted, for the video, their visit to the Dales Countryside Museum.

Dentdale Youth Hostel definitely won the award for best hostel of the tour. The setting was idyllic and remote, the hostel large and full of character, and the facilities very comfortable. We were self-catering tonight for the first time, but that was fine. Some spent the evening playing a very long game of Monopoly in the Common Room, which Luke was pleased to tell us was won by him "Mega Time".

Ryan's helmet, kindly posted up to Dentdale youth hostel by Julian, was waiting for him at the hostel reception, so now he would have his full cycling gear.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Dentdale Youth Hostel was definitely the best hostel of the tour, and we had plenty more time to enjoy it on this sunny morning as we effected numerous bike repairs in the grounds, including lubricating Ryan's brakes and greasing up Gavin's headset. By the time we left we were running about an hour and a half late, but we couldn't have picked a nicer place to spend the time. Even as we rode out of the hostel drive, the River Dee that runs along the boundary was itself a delight to watch as it tumbled over natural stone steps on the river bed.

Our leisurely morning continued with a ride down the valley of Dentdale to Dent, which I suppose is the capital village of Dentdale. It was a delightful village, just as Michael remembered it from his last visit, with cobbled, narrow streets and quaint Dales houses. We had an excellent cafe stop in the Stone Close Tearooms, then went around the corner to the only shop in town, the Dent Stores, where we stocked up with provisions for the day and evening. Nobody was in much of a hurry as the pace of life here seemed so much slower than everywhere else we had been.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away and headed back up the valley to the hostel, this time taking the even quieter road on the other side of the river, which offered us better views of Dentdale. When we rejoined the other road at Cowgill, however, we discovered a natural pool in the River Dee. Since everyone was feeling quite hot and we were in no particular hurry we decided to stop for lunch and our second swim of the tour, and this turned out to be another of those magical tour moments that everyone will remember.

It was just perfect there by the river. Ryan went in immediately of course, although Gavin got slightly concerned at the screams he made when he went fully underneath the icy waters.
He wasn't sure he was going to go right in at all until Oliver, who was filming, suggested that Ryan help Gavin get under the water. This provided some general amusement for all. Soon Michael was in as well, then Luke, and even John ventured into a shallow pool up to his knees.

Eventually we set off up the hill past Lea Yeat Brow which took us out of the Dale, at the same time offering us some excellent views of Dentdale. After riding through Garsdale and riding the short section of road past Hardraw Force for the second time on this tour, we climbed up out of Wensleydale to High Shaw, where Oliver and John uprooted a road marker and had a sword fight with it.

As we approached the top of the hill we came across Buttertubs by the side of the road, an unusual set of limestone potholes that were twenty metres deep. This kind of feature can only be found in Limestone of course, and it's rare to find it so close to the road, so we spent a little time wandering around and even walking over the top of some of the pillars. Michael explained to Oliver and John that the correct local pronunciation should be used, "booter toobs", but they wouldn't have it.

From Buttertubs it was mainly downhill to Thwaite as we entered Swaledale, and from Thwaite it wasn't much further to the Youth Hostel at Keld. This was a large house by the side of the road that had plenty of character. We were self-catering again this evening, but Gavin had some repairs to effect before we headed to bed.

Michael always remembers the enormous rabbit called Henry who lived in this hostel for our 1987 visit, having free roam of the dining room while we were eating our meal.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Our night at Keld Youth Hostel was OK, although some felt the beds were too small and Gavin felt the rooms layout was a little confusing. After breakfast, Gavin completed last night's bike repairs - Luke reckoned his bike needed a service!. Oliver also carried out some repairs, as he had found a bulge on his rear tyre - he reinforced it with one of Michael's canvas sections to hopefully keep it going until he gets home.

The weather was not great for the longest day of the tour, but at least there wasn't much rain around. We started by riding through Muker, the village used for the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, and we quickly spotted the house used for James Herriot's surgery. We then had a stiff climb out of Swaledale over Reeth High Moor, where we had no trouble spotting the hundreds of grouse roaming around the moorland just waiting to be shot. Still, they brightened up an otherwise grey morning.

Next we descended into our final Dale of the tour, Arkengarthdale, at Langthwaite, but then quickly climbed out of it again as we exited the Yorkshire Dales National Park at Hope Moor. It was quite a hilly route, but eventually we arrived at Barnard Castle, where the showpiece monument was clearly visible from the road. We had planned to stop here for provisions, but I have a feeling we were running late so probably made it a very quick stop at the co-op.

We pressed on through Middleton-in-Teesdale and then rode up the Tees Valley, passing Low Force waterfall but stopping at High Force waterfall, which is definitely the most impressive of the two. There was a bit of a walk up the path from the car park, but when we arrived it was well worth the effort, with a huge volume of water emptying over the edge. There was considerable interest in seeing it from the top of course, we we walked around the back path and soon found ourselves walking on the rocky area right next to the falls. Michael, who is never comfortable with heights at the best of times, took extra precautions to keep everyone well away from the edge, but we got some very memorable sights from this superb vantage point.

Returning to the bikes we had just under three miles to ride to reach Langdon Beck Youth Hostel, which really did feel like it was in the middle of nowhere. Once again we were self-catering, and I don't think anyone felt much like going out for an evening walk this evening.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Breakfast at Langdon Beck hostel was not quite as peaceful as usual this morning, as Oliver managed to get hold of Michael's camcorder. Looking back, however, it was an excellent idea, and I'm really glad he did- it's interesting to capture a normal hostel breakfast for a change.

There was some incident involving fire at the hostel this morning which apparently prompted the warden to ask me to consider having pyromaniac-inclined members checked over by a psychologist before bringing them on future tours! John was discussing it on video when we reached the top of the hill, so perhaps you can remember the details?

We had a fairly long day again today, although not quite as long as yesterday, and nowhere near as hilly. As we were leaving the hostel we saw a number of interesting birds on the grassland opposite which turned out to be Lapwings, commonly found in the North Pennines. We managed to catch some on video.

The hostel was nearly at the top of the very long hill we had climbed yesterday to get here, and once we had reached the top we had a long downhill to Alston, which was a lot of fun. Here we found an excellent cafe called Blueberry's Tea Shop where we relaxed for well over half an hour.

When we had bought provisions we rode on along a lane called Isaac's Tea Trail which followed the River South Tyne. Soon we found a perfect spot for lunch, in a grassy field overlooking the wooded river valley. If we were giving ratings for lunch spots this one would have scored at least 9 out of 10, and it's not often we find something as good as that.

Continuing along the lane took us across Thompson's Well Bridge to the main road at Slaggyford, but the quiet country lane route we had taken thus far had been an excellent choice. Now we had to stay on main road to Lambley and then took lanes through Rowfoot to reach Haltwhistle. This was our last chance of a refreshment stop, so we found a cafe for refreshments.

A short climb of about a mile brought us to Hadrian's Wall, the main point of interest today. The map brought us to a path that took us up to Cawfields Milecastle 42 on the wall, which was really quite a short walk. This gave us plenty to see, including a large section of restored wall, information boards about the history of the wall and this particular milecastle, and a great overview of the Milecastle itself when we had taken the trouble to climb the wall on the opposite side of the dip. It was really quite something to get so close to such an ancient structure.

It was now just four miles to the hostel at Greenhead, the last hostel of the tour, where we arrived just in time for our provided evening meal. It was a strange building, built inside an old chapel, so it felt a bit simple and a bit cavernous, with a very high ceiling - rather like a chapel in fact! But it did the job, providing us with a place to stay that was within easy riding distance of Carlisle tomorrow.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

The self-catering kitchen at Greenhead hostel is just a corner of the Common Room / Dining Room that has been boxed off with a partition, but there is nothing to stop the aroma of cooked food spreading throughout the area. It still felt like we were eating our breakfast in a Chapel despite the "conversion" to a hostel.

Oliver somehow managed to upset two young hostellers while playing Pool before we left, but I don't remember exactly how he did that - maybe he can remember?

We had twenty miles to ride to Carlisle this morning, but it was pretty much all downhill, so after taking the quieter lane route through Gisland and Upper Denton we joined the A69 for a fast and furious ride to Carlisle station. Oliver was carefully nursing the hole in his tyre, patched up a few days ago at Keld, as it was definitely getting larger and more bulgy. There was a significant chance it would burst before we got to Carlisle, but by some miracle it held together by a few threads and we got to Carlisle station at about 11.35

We were in plenty of time for our 13.13 train, so we had time to go into the town to buy lunch, finding a particularly good family bakery in Lowther Street called W Sproat & Son, where Gavin was last out with his lunch.

I believe Ben was collected from Carlisle this morning by his parents, as he lives locally, but it is possible he was collected last night from Greenhead.

Michael had had numerous difficulties booking the train over the past few months, having to deal directly with Virgin Trains head office. The ultra cheap Super Advance tickets had been cancelled for today because of the Solar Eclipse in two days' time. so we had only been allowed to buy Advance tickets. Anyway, the train left pretty much on time at 13:13 and there were no problems with the bikes.

It's a wonderful feeling when the tour is all but over and the train is taking the strain for the final few hours. Gavin fell asleep after his lunch, and Michael was having difficulty staying awake. We entertained ourselves happily on the train home, and were joined by a mother and son at Birmingham who played numerous games of Dominoes with us.

Our train reached Newton Abbot a few minutes after 19:03 as it was running a little late, but apart from that, everything had gone smoothly and another tour was successfully completed. The weather had been good at times, average at other times, but we had managed to go the whole week with very little rain. The Yorkshire Dales had once again proved a great tour destination, and we will all remember the events of this tour for a very long time.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)