As we were getting ready for breakfast Michael was presented with a birthday gift and card signed by everyone – an unexpected boost on a morning when he was feeling a little under the weather from a cold and cough. The gift was a packet of cheddar biscuits and cream cheese, and the wrapper had been adorned with Will’s excellent drawing of an Exeggcute Pokémon!

For the first time we actually got away close to 9.30 as planned for the longest ride of the tour. Michael had more than a kilo of ice cubes to use up, so he shared some out in the hostel courtyard and carried the remainder in the bag on the back of his bike. The few that remained by the time we reached Beadlam were stuffed into Lawrence’s thermos flask.

The first part of our route was mainly A-roads, so we got to Kirkbymoorside at the sensible time of 10.15. We missed the Co-op and had to double back to the town centre. The first bakery we found was rather small scale, having only seven or eight items on display, but she had more out back and was happy to make sandwiches and rolls to order. The delicatessen down the street (Scrumptious Deli) offered far better value, however, so most of us stocked up there for lunch.

As this would be our only chance for a café stop all day we asked someone in the street for her recommendation of the best café. She advised Bridget’s Café, so we all trooped in and ordered real lattes that were very hot but very tasty. She didn’t quite produce them all in the five minutes she promised, so by the time we had finished it was 11:50 - much later than we had planned. Michael was falling asleep and wondered whether he should be cycling at all in his current state, but he felt OK again once he was on the bike.

We returned to the main road for a few miles, then turned left for Appleton-le-Moors. Michael got a puncture along the way which necessitated a repair stop, but Lawrence refused to stop because there were too many flies buzzing around. He eventually found a seat under some trees that seemed to be relatively fly-free, so we repaired it there.

After riding through Appleton-le-Moors George got a nosebleed that took nearly half an hour to get under control. It was now 1.30, the time we had planned to stop for lunch, but Michael insisted we pressed on up the climb that would take us right over the centre of the moors. We finally stopped on a grassy verge near Hartoft at around 2.15pm and found our deli lunches to be very tasty.

We continued the gradual climb and were soon crossing the heather-topped high moors. It really hadn’t seemed like too bad a climb when we reached the top, certainly not as steep as the climbs in the Dales. As we looked around we noticed some strange stone enclosures that turned out to be grouse hides: we wondered what chance the grouse would have to escape their hunters, but concluded that at £7000 per day the hunters probably expected the odds to be stacked in their favour. In the distance we could see an unusual pyramid-shaped building that later turned out to be RAF Flyingdales radar installation near Saltergate.

The descent to Egton Bridge was long and very steep in places, so most of us enjoyed that. The 33% climb on the other side of the river, however, was not so welcome. Lawrence, Will and Dillan took the lead, with Lawrence tasked to be leader and to stop everyone at regular intervals. Unfortunately when Lawrence stopped with Dillan about two thirds of the way up, Will decided to continue to the top on his own. Meanwhile George had managed to get a jammed chain near the bottom that took John a good twenty minutes to repair, so Lawrence had been waiting half an hour by the time we were all together again. Will had been told by phone of the chain delay before his battery went dead, but when we eventually all continued to the top he was nowhere to be seen. For some reason he had decided to ride on to the hostel alone, along the main road.

John took the main road route while the rest of us followed the quiet lanes route that took us past some great views of the edge of the moors. A local who saw us taking the lane route suggested it was miles longer than the main road, so the youngsters thought Michael was taking them on a long detour. In fact she hadn’t known the route we were actually taking, and it turned out to be just 0.2 miles longer and involved 40m less climbing than the main road.

John was waiting for us when we re-joined the main road, and we continued on together to Whitby. Will telephoned from the hostel to let us know he had arrived safely, so we stopped at the Co-op to stock up with some basic provisions. We then made our way across Whitby Swing Bridge with many tourists milling around in every direction. We rode along the old-fashioned cobbles of Henrietta Street and were then faced with a very steel cobbled climb to the hostel that had some steep steps beside them as an unattractive alternative. We worked together as a team to get all the bikes up to the top but wondered whether there would have been an easier way to get there.

The hostel is uniquely situated in the grounds of Whitby Abbey, a National Trust property. It’s a big hostel with rather plush rooms and a large restaurant that is also open to the general public. After welcome showers we all headed for the restaurant where we had booked a proper cooked meal to celebrate Michael’s birthday, all very generously funded by John. The food was excellent in every respect, so many thanks to John for giving us an excellent end to a superb day of cycling.

Unfortunately Michael’s cold was now getting the better of him, so he retired to bed shortly after the meal for a long night of recuperation.

Today was a relatively easy day so we took things a bit easy, taking time to explore the grounds of the hostel with the abbey ruins behind. We also walked to the far side of St Mary’s Church near the hostel to admire the views to Whitby harbour and pier. The bright sunshine made everything look perfect this morning.

Retracing our steps back down the steep cobbled slope we took time to explore some of the shops in Henrietta Street, including a chocolate shop and a market, before crossing the bridge again and walking towards the pier in search of coffee. We passed several cafes but none grabbed our attention sufficiently, so we were soon riding right out to the end of the pier. This gave us great views of the impressive beach so we spent an enjoyable half hour there chatting and soaking up the atmosphere. Lawrence used the time to get messages from everyone for the camcorder that they thought may be useful to their future selves, even though normally it would be the future selves that would be wanting to pass information back in time to help them avoid pitfalls.

There still remained the issue of coffee, and George wanted Costa, so we rode back to the main streets to find the nearest outlet. The shop was busy and we had to wait ten minutes for our table to be cleared before we could start.

By 11.45 we were finally able to set off, quickly finding the start of the old railway path locally called the Cinder Track. After crossing the impressive railway bridge over the river Esk it climbed gradually for a few miles and then descended towards the coast at Robin Hood’s Bay. The road down to the beach was extremely steep and the narrow streets were packed with visitors – clearly it’s a very attractive and popular town.

Our plan was to ride the mile or so to Boggle Hole youth hostel where there is a restaurant open to the general public, but the steep steps leading up from near the beach did not particularly appeal to any of us. Then a local commented that he had seen people cycling along the beach to Boggle Hole that very morning, so he assumed the tide was out and it was reachable. We decided to give it a go as we don’t often get to ride on beaches.

This turned out to be great fun as the sand on the beach was damp and quite compacted. There were plenty of visitors on the massive beach, watching us with amusement. The Quarterdeck Restaurant at Boggle Hole was packed with people, but after queueing for 15 minutes we got some very decent soups and fish and chip meals that proved very tasty. The Wi-Fi didn’t work at first so we had to request a reboot of the access point. While we were waiting for that Will got angry because nobody would believe him about the “dangers” of artificial sweeteners.

Michael had heard a lot about Boggle Hole over the years so he asked if someone could give us a guided tour of the hostel. One of the assistants kindly agreed to do so after he had finished his break, and his tour showed us just what a special hostel Boggle Hole is. The main rooms and doors were up wooden stairs from the restaurant on several levels, with a seafaring theme throughout all the rooms. The dorms looked very rustic and cosy. John and George played with the dressing up box and several took turns to look through the concealed spy holes in the common room painting.

Michael was slowed down for a while with some unexpected abdominal pains, but we still made good progress up the steep hill that took us back to the Cinder Track. The ride then continued on a gradual climb through Ravenscar and then a gradual descent to Scarborough. Lawrence and Will comically tried cooling off by tying up their shirts and shorts, giving Michael some excellent photo and video opportunities. The weather became gradually greyer and colder as we progressed, however, so it wasn’t long before we were putting on fleeces.

Lawrence and Will somehow managed to crash into each other as we approached the end of the cycle path, but there was no real harm done. We rode the last couple of miles to the hostel as the sun came out again, dropped the bikes off there at around 5.30 and then rode on towards the town to check out a brand new water park that had opened within the last couple of weeks.

The park was called Alpamare and had cost millions to build. It had been criticised in the press for being too expensive, but some were keen to go in so we thought we should check it out for ourselves. It did look interesting, but from what we could see there were only four flumes. We had about an hour to spend there, but the prices were going to be £19 entry fee for up to four hours with no reductions under any circumstances. We wondered who would want to spend 4 hours in there, and couldn’t see who would want to pay £19 for an hour. We were still toying with the idea when Michael discovered they wanted £19 for spectators to go in as well! That was it. We left in disgust, deciding our money would be better spent on a carvery!

Our dorm was a bit cramped but the showers were OK. Once we were all clean we walked the short distance to Scalby Manor and order carveries all round. Well Lawrence and Will didn’t think an ordinary carvery would be sufficient for their needs, so they ordered King Carveries and somehow managed to eat them. There was time for a couple of games of Pool before we headed back to the hostel.

It was very hot in the dorm so we tried to open the only window. At first we thought the Health and Safety people had beaten us by locking it down so it wouldn’t open more than 4cm, but then Dillan discovered that he could unhook the restraint so the window could open fully. Remarkably, nobody fell out of the window during the night.

An early 7.15 alarm on our final morning of the tour had little effect as everyone went back to sleep. It was Michael who realised a little later that it was 7.45, so everyone got up in double quick time. After a good breakfast we had time to play in the hostel gardens for a while, where George had yesterday seen squirrels and rabbits.

The weather was finally changing today – cloudy and windy in the morning with rain forecast from 12. We rode past the waterpark, missed the open air theatre which was concealed behind a row of trees and made our way to the promenade and the excellent beach. Nearby Peasholm Park looked very attractive too with its boating lake and tree-covered island. Everyone thought it was a very nice resort at first, although they changed their minds a little as we rode up through the town itself, which looked a bit tired and cheap.

We arrived at the station at 10.20 for our first train journey, to York. The trains go every hour but can only guarantee two bikes per train. Michael had booked 2 bikes on the 10.50 and 2 more on the 11.50 but hoped the guard would allow us to take all 6 bikes on the first train. Things didn’t look too promising as the platform filled with people travelling to York races. The guard said he would take more than two if he could, but then decided two was the maximum on this train. He couldn’t even be persuaded to take one more. So Michael and Dillan ended up on the first train leaving John to somehow get four on the next!

Michael and Dillan got to York at 11.38 and settled into the Costa for coffees waiting for news from John. It seemed he took the approach of not asking, just loading the bikes on wherever they could even though the train was packed. This worked a treat, as the guard was so overwhelmed by all the people that he had nothing to say about the bikes. Two other people who had not even reserved spaces also managed to get their bikes on, and cheekily put them in the official bikes spaces!

While they all travelled to York Michael and Dillan checked out the town in the rain so we could make the most of the time we had there. Everyone was reunited at York Station by 12.47 leaving us an hour to explore the historic city. We first went to York Minster cathedral. There is usually an entry charge but the guide kindly allowed us to sit on the seats without paying. The stained glass windows were impressive, as were the kings carved into the famous Kings Screen.

Next stop was Shambles Street, famous for its fascinating shops. The place the youngsters really wanted to see however was called The Armoury, in Stonegate. It was packed with armour and weapons of all kinds, and some couldn’t resist the temptation to try on helmets. The staff were a bit funny about Michael filming everything and insisted on a donation to charity, which John kindly provided. Even this donation wasn’t enough however, as we were reminded that a donation normally allows three photos, not videoing the whole shop.

There was a slight delay while everyone forgot which way they had seen Michael going as he watched them through the crowds from the end of the street, but eventually they caught on and we called in at a classy bakery to get lunch. There was then a mad dash back to the station in the rain where we only narrowly managed to get to the platform in time to load the bikes on the 14:02 Virgin train to London. Here, finally, on Virgin East Coast, was a proper guards van with space for 20 or more bikes. There are only 5 official spaces with racks, and only 5 bikes could be reserved, but the guard did not count our bikes on and anyway there would clearly have been enough room for many more bikes if necessary.

The train to London was quiet and comfortable. We had seats on two adjacent tables as booked. Some played chess after we had eaten our lunch, including Dillan who learned to play for the first time – Michael found a website that showed him the moves each piece could make during a game against an easy AI.

We arrived at Kings Cross station on time at 4.25 leaving us two and a half hours to cross to Paddington. We used the time first to check out the Harry Potter shop and photoshoot, Platform 9¾, which was extremely busy and no doubt making a stack of money for the owners from the high quality merchandise on sale. There was a long queue of people outside the shop waiting to have their photo taken walking through the wall.

A short cycle ride took us to Regent’s Park, where cycling was strictly forbidden. We walked past the café as nobody except Dillan and Michael now seemed interested in going there, and on to the lake where a flock of geese and pigeons walked over to meet us. Once Michael started feeding them there was no chance of getting away in a hurry and we spent an enjoyable half an hour giving away the last of our bread. John carefully planted breadcrumbs on Michael’s shoulder and helmet in the hope that the birds would land on his head, but in this he was disappointed. We got some great shots of pigeons on Michael’s hand and arm, and then on George’s hand – quite an experience for those who have not been to the park before.

We stopped briefly opposite the Sherlock Holmes museum in Baker Street, then went to Pizza Hut with a view to buying some takeaway pizza for the train. They quoted us twenty minutes wait time however, so we went to the nearby Subway instead. From there we rode the last mile or two to Paddington Station, arriving at 18:35 to find the station more crowded than we have ever seen it.

Sainsburys was open again on the station concourse so we stocked up with a few more items for the train, loaded the bikes easily onto the 19:03 Great Western train and settled into our seats. It appeared that an earlier train had been cancelled, however, as there seemed to be twice as many people on the train as there were seats. People were sitting or standing on the floor between the seats all the way through the carriages and the area between carriages were equally packed. Fortunately the carriage had fully working air conditioning so the experience was not too arduous for those of us with reserved seats, but John and Will found it a very trying experience to get to the lavatory.

We whiled away the time playing more games of chess once we had eaten our food. The train got less packed as we got closer to home, but then it made an unscheduled stop at Dawlish to pick up people who had been to the air show, so once again it got quite busy. We finally got in to Newton Abbot at 21:55, around ten minutes later than scheduled.

This had been our longest tour since the summer of 2013 and everyone seemed to agree it had been very enjoyable. We had been lucky with the weather, missing nearly all of the potential rain that could have ruined the trip and getting far more than our fair share of sunshine. There is talk of Norway next summer, so watch this space to see what happens next.

Tom was in fine form this evening as we rode up Dean Hill, so we diverted to Skerraton and took the track up onto the moor. It was a bit overgrown today - clearly the farmer is running late with his annual cut - but we eventually made it to the open moor where the last rays of sunset made us feel once again how fortunate we are to live near such fabulous scenery.

Picking our way through the gorse bushes we finally made it to the ridge and managed to find the wall that would guide us home. From here the twinkling lights of Teignmouth and Totnes looked far away and remote.

Our progress down the hill to Cross Furzes and home was slower than usual as Michael broke a brake cable, but we still had plenty of time to finish the ride with hot drinks and quizzes at Crofters until 10.30.

Dillan was keen to do a longer ride today and selected a destination of Princetown. We made good progress through Scoriton and past Venford, but then Michael noticed some distant rain in the Princetown area. None of us had brought coats with us as we had stupidly only checked the forecast for the Buckfastleigh area. Light rain was with us by the time we reached Hexworthy, so Dillan decided the café at Dartmeet would be a safer bet on this occasion.

We enjoyed some good refreshments at Badgers Holt café until the rain finally gave way to sunshine, then we set off up Dartmeet Hill and on to Leusdon where Michael found his beloved ducks hiding behind a tree some way from the pond.

Spitchwick was busy as usual in the afternoon sunshine. We took the riverside path to New Bridge and returned home via Hembury having completed the ride in excellent time.