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Now Alan had decided that he wanted to cycle home tomorrow and Blackpool seemed a long way away so we got an early start and shot over to the airfield at Leeming. Here we rested a while and watched the RAF Tornadoes taking off and returning, very impressive. We then whizzed off down to Ripon down the Vale of York, the flatness of the terrain meant that we had completed 30m already so we treated ourselves to an early lunch at 'The Warehouse'. The weather was getting pretty warm as the afternoon wore on and by the time we reached Pateley Bridge for the shopping it was a real scorcher. We did the shopping here, potatoes, plenty of fresh veg etc. and so as we set off in the baking sun with all the extra food tucked in our bags the conditions were perfect to enjoy the return trip over Greenhow Hill. Whichever way you tackle it this is a brilliant climb, three 1:6 sections take you quickly (or slowly) back up to 1200ft, it's a classic! By the time we got back to Grassington it was 17:30, still quite a way to go but Alan had got the hang of this cycling by now and we had to chase him all the way over to Earby. Sixty Eight miles, scorching sun, Greenhow Hill, cosy hostel and a great pub at night all in one day, it doesn't get much better than that.

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Alan left first heading down back through the village, Bert and Trevor needed to get back to Bradford. The most direct route is straight up the hill from here, excellent! After warming up with another 1200ft climb we said our goodbyes and Calum and I headed north again to Skipton for shopping and two visits to the pie shop, how could I miss it? Having loaded up the bags with fresh food we headed back up on to the hills again through Eastby, only 1171ft this time but well worth it. On the way up there is a sign post which says 14%, now I've climbed enough hills to know that it's wrong, definitely worth a detour if you're in the area. We had planned to stay at Linton but the YHA in it's wisdom has closed nearly all the rural hostel in Yorkshire so we headed on to Kettlewell. The village was still quiet when we visited but the film 'Calendar Girls' had not been released at the time. I expect the place is unbearable by now. The hostel has recently been improved, this seems to consist of making the kitchen one quarter of it's former size!

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The day dawned beautiful and sunny again and we headed north again through Hubberholme, this dale is one of my favourites. It starts quietly with the river bubbling alongside the road and sheep hopping about. Then when you least expect it the road takes a sharp right and you have a stiff winding climb up on to the moor. There's a viewpoint at the summit at around 2000ft and then you have a fast descent down to Gayle, Calum almost touched 50mph here. There's a great cafe at the west end of Hawes, it's mostly frequented by users of two wheel vehicles, with or without engines. The tea comes in giant mugs and the bacon sandwiches have to be seen to be believed. We then went up to look at the Ribblehead Viaduct, I think Calum was underwhelmed and I must confess it looks better with a steam train on it. We lay in the sun for a while and then went down to the hostel in Dentdale. We stayed in at night but later discovered that there is a pub not far down the dale.

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Another sunny hot day and just a short ride over to catch the train at Oxenholme, how could we extend this I wonder. Well a cyclist at the hostel recommended the road through Barbondale, it was beautiful, quiet and steep..... perfect. We arrived at Oxenholme in time for a quick visit to 'The Station' and our last fresh pint of Black Sheep for a while. When we arrived at the railway station we learned of the chaos on the west coast line and were warned that our journey could take much longer than usual, our train was at least two hours late. Just then a train arrived at the platform and after speaking to the guard we learned that it was heading for Glasgow. So without any cycle tickets for this service we hopped on, the guard said plenty of room, why not? The second class coaches were very crowded, probably due to the extreme late running of all the trains so the guard told us to sit in the first class. In the end we arrived in Glasgow ten minutes earlier than we should. What luck, but somehow it was in keeping with the rest of the holiday. Next year we tackle south west Ireland.