When we awoke in our cosy attic dormitory at Street Youth Hostel on the final morning of the tour, Hallam announced that he had slept very well and there was a great atmosphere in the group. When pillow fights had been concluded we had breakfast, which was fine apart from a dispute between Callum and Matt – Callum wiped crumbs off the table onto Matt, Matt emptied more crumbs over Callum and then Callum hit Matt!

Zac and Ryan were actually ready early today, so there was time for some frisbee in the Common area outside the hostel, although Tao and Ash preferred Bike Frisbee. After some group photos we left just after 10am as usual.

The weather was perfect this morning. We took the path through the Common and the Woods on Ivythorn Hill, then Zac realised we were not going to Clarks Village – he was disappointed about that, as he had saved money for it. Sadly that would have been a detour, and since the trains would not wait for us later we just didn’t have time. We followed the long, straight roads across the Levels – Butleigh Drove, Nythe Road and Beer Drove – giving us plenty of time to enjoy the unusual scenery of willow trees, watery drains and swans. Ash and Michael swapped bikes for a while and Ash really loved Michael’s Mercian, getting really good speed on it.

At Othery, Matt saw the Bakery above which his sister lives. We didn’t have time for a visit though, and we went instead to the local shop – Central Stores on High Street – which was not well stocked but had enough for us to buy lunch of sorts. Some were getting a little short of money by now, so Matt had to borrow £5 and Ryan £2.50. We then rode the last mile or two to Burrow Mump, during which Ryan’s playing cards fell out of his pannier and ended up all over the road! Fortunately Tao was there to help pick them all up.

This year, for a change, we parked our bikes in the Burrow Mump car park and walked up from there, which turned out to be a lot safer and more enjoyable than our usual path up from the main road by the school. We could just make out Glastonbury Tor in the hazy distance when we reached the top. There was plenty of sunshine, but it was breezy at the top so we found a little shelter from the ruined church by going around to the far side, then had an early pre-lunch there at 12.10. The youngsters played I, Spy over lunch and then Callum, Ash, Ryan and Matt had fun climbing the ruined church.

It would have been good to follow the Route 3 cycle path all the way from here to Taunton, but Michael wanted to take the group to the Willows and Wetlands Centre at Meare Green so we went there first. We had a good look around the exhibits, swung in the hanging Willow seats (as Tao and Ash had done on previous tours), posed with the Willow fish, saw the Blackberry-picker baskets and took some amusing photos of Callum, Zac and Ash wearing busbies and shawls. We rounded off an interesting visit with coffee and other refreshments in the café, for which Ryan needed to borrow another £2!

We left there at around 1.39 and decided we didn’t want to retrace our steps back to Burrowbridge to join Route 3 at Fordgate. We continued on along our usual route through North Curry and Ham, cycled over the footbridge there, and then found the Creech St Michael entrance to the Route 3 canal path. To make up a little for missing the other part, we first followed it away from Taunton as far as the Old Engine House at Charlton. Here there was a concrete World War 2 bunker by the canal path, so the youngsters sat on there for some group photos while Michael talked about options for the summer tour.

Timing was now perfect for heading back along the path to Taunton for our train. Michael let Ash take the lead for this section, regrouping every five minutes or so to ensure we didn’t waste any precious time with mechanical problems. The canal path was delightful and so much better than the main roads we used to use for this part of the tour. After passing Creech St Michael again we saw two unusual weed cutting and collecting machines, keeping the canal clear and well maintained.

The canal path took us right into Morrisons in the centre of Taunton. We bought some provisions in there to eat on the train and Ash rang his Mum. Tao kept an eye on the bikes, which was just as well as a “geezer” almost took Ash’s new Trek 4500 bike!

We got to the station at around 3.30 and prepared the bikes for optimal loading on the trains. We managed to get seven bikes on the first train, the 3.50, where only six were booked, which instantly solved the problem of how to get two bikes on the next train where only one was booked. Michael took Ashley, Callum, Hallam and Matt on the 3.50, which turned out to be a busy train, but our reserved seats meant we could all sit together as planned. Matt said he would have liked the tour to go on a bit longer as we just getting up to speed now! He had indeed done very well today, staying up with the leaders for the whole ride. Meanwhile Tao, Zac and Ryan caught the 4.17 train from Taunton.

Matt’s friend was waiting to collect him at Newton Abbot when we arrived at 4.41. Joyce McGrath arrived around 5pm, later than planned as she had found it tricky putting the bike rack on the car. Jude arrived to meet Tao, and we all met Tao, Zac and Ryan off their train when it arrived at 5.08, five minutes late. Then Ryan’s Dad arrived to take Ryan and Hallam, and our tour had finally come to an end. That just left Michael and Ash to ride back to their car through Newton Abbot, with Zac passing them on the way. When they reached it at 5.35 Michael was somewhat relieved to find it was still in one piece and hadn’t been vandalised!

This had been a very good tour, with excellent weather, great scenery and a good group of youngsters. Hopefully Callum will have learned some lessons from his mistakes!

The forecast this morning was for occasional showers, and one hit just as the youngsters arrived at 10.15. They had to be dragged off the computers when the rain stopped at 10.35, but then we had no more rain for the rest of the morning.

We rode out along Colston Road with Ryan and Ash playing with sticks again along the way. After climbing the cycle path up to Huxham’s Cross the majority wanted a café, so we rode down the path to the Cider Press Centre and stopped in the new Venus café. Michael took a look at the huge slices of coffee cake in the display cabinet marked at £2.20, decided they were way too expensive and chose what he thought would be much cheaper alternatives for him and Ash – a shortcake slice and a tiny cupcake. When he checked the bill at the end he discovered he had been charged £2.20 for the shortcake and £2 for the cupcake! He was not happy and vowed to check the prices of even the smallest items next time.

Everyone’s favourite sweet shop had moved again, but we soon found it so we could pick up some affordable treats. The sun shone brightly as we rode back through Staverton, so we visited the railway station and found an adorable four-legged friend who seemed rather camera shy. At Caddaford we heard a steam train heading back to Buckfastleigh and tried racing it back to the bridge, but it was long gone by the time we got there – slow, but clearly a race-winning speed.