The sun was shining and the church bells were ringing out across the valley this morning as we prepared to leave Château d’Oex. John had a puncture, saw a very smart looking workshop pump near reception, asked the warden if he could borrow it and was told it was for use hostellers' use! It seems like this is very a cyclist-friendly hostel! Lawrence and Will decided they had time to play a game of chess in reception while the rest of us got ready and Ash took a video of the hostel, showing our rather cramped dorm that nevertheless had exceptional views to the meadows and mountains outside. It was a delightful hostel. When we were ready to leave, however, Lawrence, sensibly, decided he needed to put on sunscreen, but it delayed us and we wished he had got ready before starting his chess game!

After group photos we set off around 10.10 for another very long cycling day, except this time there was much more downhill then uphill. Within the hour we were entering Gstaad, where we passed horse riders practicing their skills in the Lovell Summer Camp. It was a peaceful scene, made all the more special by the mountain backdrop behind. A short time later we entered Gstaad itself, a popular tourist town, and when we found the Early Beck patisserie on the pedestrianised Promenade, there was no question that it was the place to stop for refreshments. Temperatures were quite hot already, so we all appreciated the chance for ice cold drinks and ice creams as well as early lunch items. Lawrence liked the look of John’s hot sausage roll so much that he went to buy one too, but came back with a different one – he had gone to the wrong shop!

Route 9 continued up Grubenstrasse, which offered great mountain views looking back towards Château d’Oex, then more climbing through Schrönried, and after a final climb through Saanenmöser we had completed our 14 miles of climbing. We took some videos and photos as we contemplated the long 39-mile downhill ahead of us, then just got on with enjoying it!

Our route took us down to Zweisimmen, around the railway tracks and then down the side of the river Simme. It was quite hot by now and we Ash saw some shady trees by the path he couldn’t resist climbing one while the rest of us cooled off.

We followed Route 9 along the quiet side-roads for as long as it kept going downhill, but when we saw it starting to climb again we joined the main road that was running parallel to it, as that was just non-stop downhill. We stopped near until Enge im Simmental, where an old wooden bridge over the River Simme gave us good views of several rafts being swept down the fast-flowing river. A few metres down the road we found a café in a layby, serving drinks and ice creams – Ash and Michael availed themselves of the refreshments, trying out a new drink called Sinalco that Ash said tasted of blood orange. We were only around halfway to Interlaken and it was already past 3.30.

We continued along the main road all the way to Spiez, maintaining a good speed. Somewhere around here, Michael received some bad news about one of Ash’s friends back in England, but Ash took his step-father’s advice and decided to delay receiving the news until the last day of the tour.

The final twelve miles or so along the banks of Lake Thuner was fairly flat and we soon found the hostel in Interlaken. This turned out to be a modern building, right in the centre near the railway station. A large tunnel entrance just outside took cars and bikes down to the underground car park, which was quite an unusual feature.

Facilities were good, with separate showers off the main corridor, just like we had seen at Basel hostel on the first night.

Today was our planned “rest day” of the tour, with just 17 miles to cover, and Michael had planned to use it for a scenic rail excursion to the Alpine Jungfraujoch Top of Europe station. Things didn’t work out quite as he had planned, however.

We had a leisurely start at Interlaken Youth Hostel, then Ash took a video of our room where he mentioned the interesting Korean gentleman who had shared our room last night. Ash then had fun riding the bikes out of the underground car park beneath the hostel, and continued to entertain by doing pole tricks for John to catch on his camera. By around 11.05 we were finally ready to leave.

The first task was to get Lawrence’s bottom bracket repaired, as he couldn’t bear the creaking anymore and felt sure his bike would break down if it wasn’t fixed. We found a Trek bike shop called Zwei-Rad Götz in nearby Unterseen: they needed several hours to repair it and suggested it would be ready after 3pm for a cost of 80-90 Swiss Francs. We left it with them, Lawrence borrowed a loan bike from them, we called in to the nearby Coop for coffees and snacks, returned to the hostel to park up the bikes and then went to the adjacent Interlaken station at 12.15 to buy our Jungfraujoch train tickets.

We were greeted with some very disappointing news. There was apparently a cap on the number of tickets that could be sold in a day, because of the limited train capacity, although we hadn’t been aware of that, and they had sold all 5000 of today’s tickets by 10.30. We had been sleeping right next door to the station and could easily have bought the tickets before breakfast if we had known. It was all very annoying, and we felt our whole day had been ruined, but there was absolutely nothing the ticket office would or could do to help us.

The hostel had an excellent restaurant, open all day, so we returned there for lunch while we made new plans for the rest of our day. We had a little time before the bike could be collected so we attempted to look around some of the more interesting parts of Interlaken, but when we couldn’t even find the town square we gave up and collected the bike early at 2.50. The bike, unsurprisingly, had a British Thread on the bottom bracket, and that was more expensive, so it cost 95 Swiss Francs in the end. But at least it was done, and Lawrence was far happier to have a properly functioning bike.

On the way back to the hostel we took a look at the HEP station on the River Aare and called in to the Coop at Interlaken Station at 3.50 to stock up with provisions. We then set off along Route 9 towards Brienz, which took us along the south-eastern flank of Lake Brienzer. Will seemed unhappy about something for the first hour or so, but we weren’t sure what was wrong.

The route started flat and downhill, taking us through the quiet farming village of Sengg. The scenery was superb as we approached Iseltwald, with mountains on the far side of the lake coming right down to the edge of the lake. As we passed through Iseltwald we noticed a diving board right by the lake in a campsite, and on further investigation we were told it was a public Lido, so there was no charge to use it! Suddenly we knew how we wanted to make up for missing the mountain railway! Everyone except Michael went in (he was on camcorder duty) and it was an absolutely perfect location for an afternoon of fun. Everyone did jumps and dives and somersaults into the icy waters of the lake, and some ventured out to the nearby floating platform for a rest in the sun. Ash got the prize for the best flips into the water, and everyone was so happy here that it was probably one of the nicest stops of the tour.

Dark clouds were beginning to spread overhead as we left at around 6.00. The route was now hillier as it took us past Giessbach Falls, so we were grateful for the opportunity to stop and have a good look at them. A path allowed us to walk right under the main falls, offering us some great photo and video opportunities.

It was dark and thundery as we left Giessbach car park, and very soon it began to rain. We got quite wet before we found shelter under a bridge near Brienz, just 0.9 miles from the hostel. We waited for a while, but the rain showed no signs of stopping, so everyone except John and Will made a dash for the hostel, and even they followed a few minutes later.

There was a new warden in Brienz hostel and he had put us in a large 12-bed dorm with a family that included two teenage girls, a boy, parents and grandparents! Never in all the time we have been hostelling have we ever been put in a mixed-gender dorm, and we all felt this was totally unacceptable. We complained to the warden who said he didn’t know of any rules prohibiting mixed-sex dorms, but he said he would look it up! Meanwhile, there was nowhere else to sleep, so we had to make the best of it.

Next, we asked him for food, but again he failed to be helpful – he said he couldn’t offer us any food as we were too late arriving! They did have a small self-catering kitchen, however, that included a microwave oven, so we went to the nearby SOCAR garage to buy some ready meals at 8.40 and ate them in the kitchen. It turned out to be satisfactory, but not what we would have ideally liked after a late arrival.

We managed to wash some of our laundry and left it in the warden's drying room overnight to dry.

Today was our big Alpine Climb Day and the weather was looking good as we got up early at 7.30. When we retrieved our laundry from the warden’s drying room, we were disappointed to find that it wasn’t completely dry, although perhaps not totally surprised. Michael took a quick video around the hostel and grounds, which bordered Lake Brienz itself, then after some group photos outside the hostel we left around 9.20.

We didn’t plan to ride the entire distance to Hospental today, as the second 670m climb to the Furka Pass would be a climb too far for our group. We had reserved bike spaces on the last 17:20 bus from Gletsch to Hospental while we were in Interlaken yesterday, but there was a good chance that we might not make it to Gletsch in time, as we would have nearly 1700m of climbing to do before then. We needed a Plan B, so we rode into Brienz, stocked up with provisions for the day at the Coop, then went to the train station to enquire about train options. We found that there was a train from Oberwald at 20:44 that went through a tunnel under the mountain and stopped at Realp, just before Hospental. That would completely avoid the Furka pass, so now we had our Plan B.

We took some final photos of Lake Brienz as we left the village at 10.10, then followed the flat valley route past some impressive waterfalls. Turning right at Meringen to follow Route 8 we were faced with a rather ominous sign warning us of 1650m of climbing over the next 30km, so when we came across a convenient water fountain just around the corner, in Schattenhalb, we took the opportunity to refill our water bottles.

Well, we hadn’t been climbing very long before we started going downhill again, to Innertkirchen, which was rather annoying. There was a bakery on the corner there, so Michael, who can never resist such establishments, stocked up with some fresh Danish Pastries and then, finally, we started the main climb just before 12.00, having ridden just 13 miles. At least the new sign we passed made allowance for the 180m of climbing we had just done – just 1480m to go over 24km, or 16.0 miles. Michael tried to encourage everyone by saying it was 160 clicks, and he kept giving readouts from his SatNav as we continued the journey which told us how many clicks remained to the top.

It was a very long and testing climb, and John particularly was finding it tough today with his heavy panniers. Michael had hoped to reach the halfway point on the climb before we stopped for lunch, but after just four more of the 16 miles it was 1.15pm and people needed to eat. We found a convenient woodland beside the road and ate lunch there in the shade, so at least everyone was rested and refreshed when we set off again at 1.50.

The only problem was that Lawrence doesn’t ride well after a meal, and he had eaten a large meal today, so for the next hour he was running in slow mode. Then the pace quickened, and we marvelled at the mountain scenery, the Handeggfall Suspension Bridge, the hairpin bends and the Swiss cattle. We clearly weren’t going to make the 5.30 bus at Gletsch now, but I think we always knew that was going to be too ambitious.

The skies became dark and cloudy around 5.35, and by 5.45 a full thunderstorm had broken out all around us, with heavy rain and actual lightning that made us all feel a little unsafe on these exposed mountain roads. Ash and Lawrence were in high spirits now, but Will was definitely not happy with the weather! We tried to take shelter under a rockface by the side of the road, and got some interesting video clips, but we really didn’t have time to stop: once everyone had arrived we set off again in the rain.

Ash’s knees had been hurting a lot on the earlier part of the climb, probably caused in part by his fall on the ride from Solothurn, and he had spent much of the earlier part of the climb riding at the back with John. Now, however, for the final two hours of the ride, he was right up at the front with Michael and keen to be first to Grimsel Pass. And he was! We reached the Grimsel Pass sign by 7.00 and took several photos and video clips there. The rain had stopped now, but it was quite chilly at this altitude – it had felt more like UK temperatures for the last few hours.

There was a very short ride along the top of the pass, which brought us to the Grimsel Pass sign on the Eastern side. This time it had a clapped-out motorbike beside it, so we took a whole series of photos of the group who all felt very pleased to have reached the top. The improved weather was making everyone feel better now.

A few metres further along we reached the Grimsel Pass Overlook, a place Michael had visited previously on the 2003 tour, and what incredible views it offered. There was the series of hairpin bends leading down to Gletsch far below, the Rhone Glacier nudging its way impressively towards us from the left, and the second series of hairpin bends that we would have had to ride to cross the Furka Pass if we hadn’t got the train lined up. We spent some time there just taking it all in – and taking another series of photos and videos so we would never forget this wonderful place.

It was around 7.20 when we started the exhilarating descent of the hairpins, and about 7.32 when we arrived at Gletsch at the bottom, just two hours late for the last bus. But now, instead of turning left up the Furka Pass and on to Hospental, we were heading right to Oberwald, and that turned out to be more downhill all the way! It seemed we had finished our climbing for the day, and actually we were all very grateful for that.

Oberwald was a quiet place, but the station was still, strangely, not that easy to find. We found it eventually, bought our tickets at 8.02, then had to wait a little for the 8.44 train. This was a car train, so we got some good prices, just 36 Swiss Francs for all of us, with the kids going free! The train was very warm, making it comfortable and welcoming for us to eat our supper, which consisted mainly of cheese and rolls.

When we got off at Realp we had just two more miles to ride to Hospental in the descending darkness, and that was all downhill too, so it had been downhill all the way from Grimsel Pass. That certainly helped make up for the difficult climb.

It was rather late when we arrived at the hostel, and we only just had time for showers before we went to bed. We had a very interesting dorm in the roof area of the hostel, with all our mattresses side by side in a row! Cosy! There was another thunderstorm during the night and the rain started coming through the roof window above Michael’s bed, so he had to close it for a while to stay dry.

John said later in the tour that he only just managed the climb today - he was pleased he had achieved it, but he would definitely not want to do it again. He thought Michael was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the hill, with no pains or illnesses, and perhaps, on this occasion, he was right.

Ash was not too happy this morning. He had been understandably tired and sore after yesterday’s long ride and had been looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but first there was the thunderstorm, then soon after dawn there had been loud bells ringing periodically outside our window that could easily have been an air-raid warning!

We had a long, 57-mile ride ahead of us, although the first third was supposed to be downhill and the remainder was relatively flat. We left just before 10am, which was as early as we could manage after last night’s late arrival. Within two miles we were in Andermatt town centre, watching a horse-drawn carriage picking up its next load of tourists. We bought provisions from the Coop at 10.25 and then started what we hoped would be a very long and exciting downhill ride through the Schöllenen Gorge.

Very quickly we were greeted with the sight of multiple hairpins disappearing into the distance, with some sections protected from snowfalls – it really was an incredible piece of road engineering. Needless to say, we really enjoyed the next few miles. There was more engineering work going on at Göschenen, where existing railway lines and bridges over the river were being extended with the construction of the Gottthard rail tunnel, due to open in 2016.

The descent became less pronounced as we continued. Delightful wide valley scenery with a mountain backdrop greeted us at Erstfield, and soon afterwards, at around 12.30, we reached Altdorf where we planned to buy our lunch. The station shop, which was right on our route, turned out to be expensive, and it took us a while to find the main shops. When we did find them, most were closed for lunch, making them pretty much useless. We ended up having to buy hot takeaway food – Ash had a burger and chips and Michael had a cheese pie. When we came out of there, the bakery had, surprisingly, opened, so Michael bought a very nice strawberry flan to share with Ash.

It was now gone 2pm, and whilst we had covered 24 miles, they had been the easiest miles of the day, and we still had another 33 miles to go. We didn’t fancy another late arrival, so we decided to die to Brunnen and take the train from there – Swiss trains are fun, and it didn’t take much effort to convince ourselves that we needed to try as many of them as we could on our tour!

Route 2 from Altdorf to Brunnen was noisy, running right next to the main road in many places. There was even some climbing along the first part of Lake Urn. The cycle route skirted around the frequent tunnels, but the path around the Axen tunnel brought us to Alte Axenstrasse, a picturesque spot by the lake that even had its own picnic table! We stopped there for lunch in the sunshine and took photos of the impressive views which stretched out in all directions.

As we neared Brunnen we followed a road bridge that overhung the lake, which Will had identified earlier as a good place for lake jumping. It was immediately clear to Michael that it was not a safe place to jump though, so we pressed on, much to Will’s disappointment. The SatNav led us easily to Brunnen station where we bought our tickets for Lucerne at 4.36.

And so we found ourselves on another Swiss train, which took the strain all the way to Lucerne, offering some great views right from the window. It dropped us near the railway museum just before Lucerne itself at around 5.50, so we were able to finish the day with a little more riding, two miles in fact around the end of Lake Lucerne and through the busy town to the hostel. We checked in at 6.23.

After making beds and showering, we checked out the hostel restaurant. Most wanted to eat in the town tonight, but Michael and Ash thought the desserts looked very good value, so they bought a large Custard Slice for just two Francs. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that others soon joined them.

Lawrence didn’t fancy going down to the lake this evening, so the rest of us left him at the hostel to rest and rode our bikes down in the hope of finding the Lucerne Open Air cinema. We did find it, right by Lake Lucerne around two miles from the hostel, and several were going in to enjoy this evening’s movie, but we couldn’t help wondering if a rainstorm might distract somewhat from the movie!

John had seen a shop selling Crepes on the way out, but when we returned it had closed. We ended up returning to the station where we bought our meals from McDonalds at 9.30, which of course kept John and Will happy! Ash and Michael just had McFlurries.

We got back to the hostel by around 9.50 and were in bed for around 10.40. Michael sneaked downstairs when everyone was asleep to use his phone with the hostel WiFi service, first to check the latest news about Ash’s friend’s tragic accident, so he could update Ash properly about it tomorrow evening, and second to check the weather forecast for tomorrow. which looked rather unpromising.

The weather forecast for our final full day of cycling was for rain all day in Zurich, and spreading to Lucerne during the morning. After an early breakfast and Ash’s usual video of the hostel, we set off at around 9.45 and followed the cycle route towards Zug. As we were leaving Lucerne we came across a Penny Farthing bike right beside the path, part of a Sculpture Park on the banks of the River Reuse. Several tried it out for size – it’s probably the only time we are ever likely to sit on one!

We continued at a good pace, but it was ultimately impossible to beat the rain that was coming our way, which started as we entered Rotkreuz at 11.10, just over ten miles from Lucerne. One of the first things we saw as we entered the town, however, was the most inviting café we had ever seen, the Hotz Rust Bakery. It was really warm and welcoming on what had become a miserable, wet day. The drinks and cakes turned out to be so exceptional that John and Michael had to photograph them, so we quickly rated this café the best of the tour. It was all the more enjoyable when a thunderstorm arrived outside with torrential rain.

Conveniently adjoining the café was a Migros supermarket, so we bought our provisions for the day there. It was still raining when we came out, so we rode to the nearby train station to see what trains might be available if the rain continued. Well it did continue, so we bought tickets at 12.29 and caught the next train to Zurich, which took around half an hour. We really are learning a lot about Swiss trains!

We arrived at Zurich at around 1.30, where of course it was still raining. Lawrence like the rain, but still seemed really happy not be cycling in it today. Our bike bags had been shipped from Basel to Zurich during the past week, so we collected them now, earlier than planned, since we were there. They had somehow lost the yellow bungee that Michael had put around all five bags to hold them together, but everything else was there.

One of the things everyone had been looking forward to doing today if we had time was to go swimming in the Public River Swimming facility on the River Limmat - they had seen videos of the fun we had on our last tour to Zurich in 2006. Now that we had arrived in Zurich several hours earlier than planned we had plenty of time. After riding just under a mile to get there, however, we were extremely disappointed to find that it was closed: the only door leading into the facility was locked.

We didn’t quite understand why it would be closed, as it was just a safe section of river with a wooden viewing area and diving board, but we guessed that perhaps there was no lifeguard available today. Lawrence, Will and Ash were really keen to get in somehow, as they may never get the chance to come here again, so we asked some locals nearby and they pointed out that the facility could be entered via the river rather than the door, and that most locals do that when the door is locked. Ash immediately volunteered to give it a try. We access the river just a few metres upstream from the facility, and after checking things out carefully Ash swam across the fast-flowing river and allowed himself to be swept the last short distance to the steps under the diving platform. He was in!

Ash tested out the diving board while we watched enviously from the riverbank – after jumping in, the river swept him down to toward the far end where there were more steps to get out. Just when the others were preparing to follow Ash down the river, he told us there were some people inside the facility, and they kindly let us all in.

So now all three of our intrepid teenagers could have fun, and they made the best possible use of the facility, trying many different kinds of jumps, flips and dives. After his first jump, Ash grabbed on to some chains by the side of the river to stop himself being swept down towards the end and managed to get a splinter of wood right underneath his nail – fourth finger of his left hand. It caused him agony and would clearly need to be seen by a medical professional, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him enjoying this place, so he continued doing his jumps, flips and dives. The rain pretty much stopped while we were there.

When we had been there about an hour we headed back to the station where we had been told the pharmacy should be able to help. They took one look at the nail and immediately directed us to the doctors surgery next door. Here, Ash was seen immediately by a large, black American woman doctor who started by injecting local anaesthetic into the finger, which for whatever reason caused Ash a huge amount of pain and didn’t seem to numb the area as much as she said it would. She then proceeded to cut back the nail to remove the splinter, which was formed from very old wood and broke into multiple pieces. All this time Ash was shaking and suffering extreme pain. Her assistant, who had been holding Ash’s finger still while the doctor used the knife, left for a while at one point, and then Ash got a nasty cut in his finger from the knife when he involuntarily moved his hand during part of the procedure! Somehow it didn’t seem very professional, although of course Ash was grateful that she had seen him so quickly. When the work was done, just after 6pm, we were charged £150 plus £12 for a pack of painkillers and were suddenly very grateful that we have the NHS in the UK.

The rest of the group had been shopping in the many excellent station shops while Ash and Michael had been in the doctor’s surgery. Now Ash and Michael went around them too and bought some coffees, hot chocolates and desserts at 6.30 and then some excellent pizzas at 6.45, all from the Migros Take Away in the station. They ate everything outside under a tree. Ash really needed to get food in him after his finger surgery!

Now it was raining again, although not too heavily. We had planned to look around the lake attractions, as we had done on our previous trip in 2006, but it was late, it was wet, and Ash was finding it difficult to cycle with his finger bandaged up and painful. Even John, who had been most keen to see the lake, wasn’t keen now, so we rode straight to Zurich Youth Hostel and settled there for the rest of the evening.

Ash had decided to receive the bad news from England tonight, so after we had showered and made up our beds, Michael got a key to Conference Room 2 from reception and the two of them talked privately in there for half an hour. One of his best friends had tragically been killed in a motorcycle accident, so it was a very difficult time for Ash.

Back in the dorm Ash wanted Michael to let everyone know the news, so they would understand why he was so quiet. He received a huge amount of support from everyone, as they were all concerned to see him so upset.

We got to bed around 10.45 after a very eventful day. There was only one window in our room, and it wouldn’t stay open on its own, so Michael held it open during the night with a bungee strap.

Our alarms went off this morning at the ridiculously early time of 5.05am. The sixth bed in our dorm had been occupied last night after we had all gone to sleep, so we all got up quietly and efficiently, packed our things and loaded the bikes. It was raining heavily outside, but thankfully we only had a short ride this morning.

We went in for breakfast at around 5.50: nobody was serving, but all the breakfast things were out so we could help ourselves. We had a good final breakfast with some video shots showing that everyone was half asleep, then set off at around 6.10 for the 2.5 mile, wet ride to Zurich rail station. The SatNav guided us there faultlessly, so we spent no longer in the rain than was absolutely necessary, but we were still totally soaked by the time we arrived at around 6.30.

After picking a platform we dismantled our bikes more efficiently this time. We even had trolleys ready for the bagged bikes when they were done - well, Lawrence didn’t get a trolley, as he didn’t have 2 Francs! We were finished by 7.10 and found we had somehow picked the right platform for our train. As we had twenty minutes before our train would be leaving, we actually had time for some video shots, where Ash showed the camera his bandaged finger.

We needed to load the bike bags into the front two carriages, which was a fair way up the platform. Lawrence added his bike to someone else’s trolley to make the task easier, but his bag, which was perhaps not the finest available, fell apart on the way. When pulling things back together again he managed to lose the quick-release nut for his back wheel, although he didn’t discover that until we got to Paris. Our train left on time at 7.34.

The journey to Paris via Basel was pleasant and enjoyable: we passed the time very nicely with lots of card games – Whist and Knockout Whist mainly - with everyone taking part. Michael’s SatNav clocked our speed at about 183mph, but then, TGV trains are known for their high speeds. The rain stopped shortly after leaving Switzerland, and we got to Paris Gare de Lyon on time at 11.37.

Our first task in Paris was to reassemble our bikes, as carrying them across Paris in bags would be almost impossible. We completed the task easily on the platform where we arrived, and when Lawrence discovered he was missing a wheel bolt we assembled it in such a way that he could ride it carefully. Someone at the station kindly entered the location of a good bike shop into Michael’s SatNav, so we rode there directly and bought a replacement bolt and spring for 1 Euro!

For some reason Michael thought we only had 45 minutes to spare before we had to check our bikes in at Gare du Nord for the Eurostar, so he used that time to ride towards the River Seine in beautiful sunny weather, although he lost the group at one point by turning right without checking everyone was there. We got to see Notre Dame Cathedral, the River Seine, and by moving on a little to Pont au Change we also saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance, so everyone was happy.

We hurried back to Gare du Nord for 1.43 to check in the bikes, pushed them all the way to the back of the station and unloaded the panniers. Only then did we discover that we were two hours too early! Michael checked his tour leader notes and realised he had inadvertently written the wrong time there. He suggested we should change our plans and keep the bikes for the next two hours, but John felt that as we were here and had already taken off the panniers it would be easier to leave them now. Sadly, that turned out to be the wrong decision.

Having checked in the bikes to the Eurostar office we had to carry all our panniers and our bike bags back to the station. Michael spent some time looking for a trolley but couldn’t find one anywhere, so we just had to carry them. We dumped all our things near a little kiosk on the main concourse, then John looked after it while the rest of us went to the Crepe café opposite the station that we have visited on previous tours, although only Lawrence bought a crepe – Nutella and Banana, which is definitely the best. Michael got pizza and Ash bought a steak and cheeseburger, all of which was very tasty. We returned to the kiosk to relieve John, then Ash and Michael stayed with the things while the rest went off to wander. Ash and Michael chatted and ate what food they had left, which included a dessert thing from Migros and some chocolate.

Next, we carried all our bags up the escalator to the Eurostar check-in. When we had got through security we had a short wait in the departure lounge before boarding, then our train left on time at 5.13. Our second big train journey of the day was also very enjoyable, with more card games that kept everyone happy. We were beginning to feel really tired though after such a long day.

We got to London St Pancras at 6.39 local time, went to the bike carriage to collect our bikes and discovered to our dismay that they were not on the train! We made urgent enquiries and found that the officials at Paris had sent them on an earlier train by mistake, and they were waiting for us at the Euro Despatch office, which was a fair distance away. So we had to carry our luggage yet again, all the way to Euro Despatch – the bikes were indeed waiting for us there, but we were now running a bit late. Michael noticed the reflector on his rear mudguard was loose, but he didn’t have time to tighten it, and thought it would be OK for three miles.

The SatNav had been programmed with the quietest possible cycle route to Paddington, but that still involved a few busy main roads. It was on one of these busy roads that Michael’s mudguard reflector fell off the bike and got run over by a bus! Typical. There was then another complication, in that Michael had neglected to program the final stop into the SatNav, so it dropped us near Paddington station but not actually AT Paddington station. He asked someone passing and they kindly put the postcode into the SatNav, so we finally arrived at 7.30 with our train due to leave at 7.45!

Michael and Ash rushed to Millies and Sainsburys to get a few things to eat on the train, then returned to the group on the concourse only to find John looking concerned because Will had gone off somewhere to get food. John didn’t have confidence that Will knew the tight time constraints. They had announced that our train would be leaving from Platform 10, and Ash had already gone there with Lawrence to get their bikes loaded. Michael joined them and hoped that Will would find John in time, but it looked very much like they might both miss the train. Two other cyclists had turned up without bike space bookings hoping to load their bikes onto the train, but we had all the spaces reserved so they just watched hoping that John and Will wouldn’t turn up. But they did arrive at the last minute, 7.41, so we all left together as planned in the end, although I think John needed a sit-down for a while to recover from the stress!

Now, finally, we were back in the UK with a little time to relax, so Michael was able to top-up Ash’s phone so that he was able to catch up with all his messages on the journey home. The train was delayed, but we ate our food, played a few card games and got a little sleep.

The train got to Newton Abbot at 11.18 instead of the scheduled 10.38. Everyone was waiting for us on the platform. Neil, who lives in Newton Abbot, had found Michael’s V70 battery totally flat when he came to start it, so had to bump-start it, and then the battery was so low that the lights didn’t work for ten minutes. But he had sorted it and was waiting at the station with the others. Ash decided to cycle to Neil’s house so he didn’t have to cram himself into the boot of the car.

So, we all got home late, but we had experienced a truly magnificent adventure to one of the finest cycling countries in the world. The weather had been superb for most of the tour, only letting us down for the last two days, and we would take away happy memories of that wonderful country that would stay with us for a very long time.