Everyone met at Newton Abbot station at 9.18 for the start of our first tour for 2016. John, Will and George were already on the platform drinking coffee when Michael's group arrived! We had no difficulty loading the bikes onto the 9.33 when it arrived on time, but buying coffees on the train for the late group proved difficult as the on-board cafe didn't open until we were somewhere between Exeter and Tiverton, and then there was a queue. Dillan and Michael managed to get coffees eventually, but they only just managed to finish them before the train arrive at Taunton at 10.23.

Will insisted on changing into his cycling gear at the station, then when George was wheeling Lawrence’s bike down the stairs for him, he managed to get his bungee strap wound up in the rear cogs, which ruined the bungee and took a while to remove. Next we found that the front wheel on Lawrence’s bike would no long clamp properly after reassembling it at Newton Abbot, as the bolt was not gripping the thread, so we called into the nearby bike shop and they kindly changed the bolt for him free of charge for him.

Michael used Google Maps as our Satnav on this tour for the first time, which took us out of Taunton along the canal path as planned. We made good speed, and the weather was brightening up nicely. We left the canal at Creech St Michael and followed the lanes to Ham. Here, we stopped to look at the private suspension bridge over the River Tone, which of course the younger members wanted to investigate at close quarters, but the owner was nearby so Michael couldn't just let them walk on it without asking. Well, he asked nicely, but the gentleman declined to give permission, although he did thank us for asking. That struck Michael as rather mean, as our youngsters have walked on it on many previous occasions when he didn't happen to be outside.

We continued on through Knapp to North Curry Post Office and shop, where Lawrence insisted on stopping for food as he said he was starving. Apparently, he hadn't noticed the tour information sheet's instructions to bring a packed lunch for the first day. Well, he took a good look around the shop and then didn't buy anything at all, saying he was trying to save his money and that he would be fine "on air". We were all amused to see a cat settled on a top shelf box near the counter, watching everyone carefully as though it owned the place.

After a further delay when some used the Public Conveniences, we then rode the few miles to Stoke St Gregory for our planned stop at the Willow & Wetlands Visitor Centre, which of course was still open despite rumours to the contrary. We had a good lunch in the excellent Lemon Tree cafe there, which offered very tasty carrot and coriander soup with "nipple breads" for £6. They checked to see if we had bikes, and when they couldn't see them they asked us if we had cycled, then gave us 10% discount for cycling! It was such a great place to stop that we bought some additional cakes to take away with us.

We had a good look around the Visitor Centre, starting with a scale model of the Somerset Levels that we were about to enter, an area of flat land that is just below sea level and therefore requires a network of drainage ditches and pumps to prevent it from flooding. Burrow Mump could be seen projecting upwards from the otherwise flat landscape. Also on display were many items of wicker furniture made out of the willow branches that grow so readily in the boggy soil. Lawrence liked the Hanging Pod Chair but didn't think it was worth £360! Tao had sat in a similar chair on our July 1991 weekend trip to the area.

We finally left at around 1.45, riding on to Burrow Mump at Burrowbridge. It's the kind of hill that is just begging to be climbed, and as the weather was perfect now, with blue skies and sunshine, we scrambled up the path to the ruined church on top. The weather really was much nicer than when we last visited in 2013. There were several sheep wandering around the Mump, but we found one very sad sheep inside the ruined church with two dead lambs. After some group photos on the ruins we scrambled back down the hill to the bikes, with Lawrence pushing George to help him get down faster!

Next we followed the main road to Othery, where Will almost rode past the turning we were taking down to the Levels. We stopped at Beer Wall, a sluice gate on the River Sowy separating two levels of the main drain. There was work going on to widen the river after the recent flood. We continued along a network of quiet roads towards Nythe that followed the drainage ditches. Dillan, George and Michael were looking for swans' nests in the ditches, but after the floods two years ago all the ditches had been dredged to ensure the free flow of water, so any nests presumably got removed at that time.

There was actually a small hill to climb near Street, Ivythorn Hill, and that yielded a few complaints about what everyone had been led to believe was a flat ride all day! We then followed the woodland track to Street Youth Hostel, which turned grassy and pleasant after the first few metres, as this was the shortest way down to the town.

We arrived at Clarks Village, the factory outlet shopping centre, at around 4.20, which left us plenty of time to look around. We had an enjoyable time in the Cadburys shop, where several bought massive bags of Misfits and Michael bought an enormous Dairy Mill Easter Egg for £5, which was half price. We then visited the large Costa cafe for very nice coffees and cakes. Michael, who loves chocolate, was particularly interested to look in Thorntons, where there were vast quantities of the finest Thornton Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies at 60% discount! Sadly he had no room on his bike to carry any more eggs, so he told the woman in the shop that he would return next weekend with a car to clear out their stock!

Returning to the bikes, Michael attached his large egg to the top of his bike rack using a bungee strap, then we rode the short distance to the large Sainsbury's Superstore for 6.00 where we stocked up with provisions for evening meals and breakfast. Michael gave everyone twenty minutes so we wouldn't be too late arriving at the hostel, but unfortunately John and family had ordered large, hot pizzas, and as the staff couldn’t get them all in the oven at once it was 6.50 when we finally got away. Meanwhile, Lawrence bought himself, amongst other things, a “Duck Kebab” which had been reduced to £1.10 and was, according to Lawrence, "literally so nice".

We took the easy, most direct route back up to the hostel, with Google Maps finding an easier route than we had used on previous tours. We arrived at the hostel at 7.15 or so and were assigned to our favourite, cosy room at the top of the house, built into the rafters. It really is a great place to stay. We had to queue for the two showers, but at least they were good showers.

Dillan and Michael had pasta ready meals for dinner with a carton of juice, a large Yeo Valley yoghurt to share and two sponge puddings. The others had to warm their pizzas, which seemed to take just as long as cooking them would have taken!

Will wanted us to play Manhunt outside in the hostel grounds, but nobody else was very enthusiastic about that once they had showered and eaten, so we finished the evening with some Bomberman contests on the laptop - as usual Michael was the overall winner, but tonight several others came very close to beating him.

We got to bed at 10.50 for a good night's sleep.

Dillan and Michael made Oat So Simple porridge for breakfast this morning, which was very tasty, but Lawrence somehow beat them to one of the microwaves to cook his own porridge, despite being last up!

We planned to get away between 9.15 and 9.30, but Will spent a long time in bed after we had gone down for breakfast, so it was around 9.45 when we finally left.

Michael didn’t really want to stop until we reached Glastonbury, but Will insisted on stopping at WH Smiths in Street so he could buy spring water, since he said he doesn't like drinking mains water because of the fluoride content. Lawrence went in as well while we were there, but the stop only delayed us by ten minutes, and we were soon following the pre-planned route to Glastonbury Tor which Michael had programmed into Google Maps.

The route took us through some estate paths on the approach to Glastonbury that made a nice change, although the right turn near the top was blocked off for some reason. We parked the bikes off Wellhouse Lane at around 10.40 and walked up the path to the top of Glastonbury Tor. Halfway up, Dillan decided to try a shortcut, even though Michael advised against it. Somehow he missed re-joining the main path and followed another route around the edge of the tor that left him having to climb a very steep grassy bank to the top. Lawrence then decided to push him back down the bank, causing him to get his clean cycling shorts muddy, and that didn't go down too well!

Conditions were breezy and chilly on top, but we were rewarded with superb views in all direction across the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. After some video and photos we headed down to the bikes for around 11.20. Michael still half wanted a coffee, and so did John, so we headed for the main street and found a cafe that seemed OK. We should probably have bought a £16 family ticket to look around Glastonbury Abbey, which was just behind our cafe, but we were happy enough with the coffees and left at around 12.10.

Google Maps was reset on the journey to Wells, which lost the programmed route, so we followed the cycle route to Wells which was a bit longer than the main road but more enjoyable. Michael took a photo just after we had passed the Syren II sculpture on the approach to Wells. We took the shortcut past the new Morrisons store: Lawrence REALLY wanted to go in there to buy lunch as he was sure the food would be cheaper there, but he reluctantly came with us to the town and bought a pasty from the shops there. The old supermarket nearer the town centre had closed now.

We ate our lunch on the green in front of Wells Cathedral, then went inside at 1.45 to look around. When the younger riders saw the Astronomical Clock, they of course wanted to see it do its thing, so we looked around other areas inside and returned to the clock to watch it strike the hour at 2.00, which this year Michael caught on video.

When the conveniences had been utilised we left at around 2.10, although George had a puncture so we had to change his tube in the busy High Street. Google then took us to Wookey Hole via the short route, with conditions continuing cloudy with sunny spells.

Michael had booked a group discount for Wookey Hole, so we were all able to go in for a good price. We were allocated to a cave tour as soon as we arrived there, and as there were only eight of us on that tour it was particularly interesting and informative. A new cavern, number 20, had just opened this year, and whilst it was a dry cave, it had an unusual fluted rock feature only found here in the UK and in two other places around the world. The earlier caverns were generally more interesting though.

After leaving the cave we walked through Dinosaur Grove, which provided several good photo opportunities. The 4D cinema was busy when we passed it, so we missed out on that, and the youngsters walked right past the paper-making demonstration without noticing it - Lawrence said later he would have liked to see it. The Mirror Maze was fun, the Hall of Mirrors was amusing but the Penny Arcade was not so interesting this time for some reason.

John and Michael would have loved to visit the cafe before we left, but the youngsters refused to give them permission, so we headed on towards Cheddar. Some rain had been forecast for this final part of the journey, but fortunately it was running late, and we only got a few drops at Ebbor Gorge, just outside Wookey Hole.

Riding up Deerleap hill to Priddy and then descending Cheddar Gorge to Cheddar was an option for today's ride, and since Will and Lawrence wanted a challenge, they decided to go that way, secretly thinking that they would still beat the rest of us to Cheddar. We followed the main road, counting the number of custom numberplates and finding more than we had expected. We arrived at Tesco Express near Cheddar Hostel at 5.05, a full fifteen minutes before Lawrence and Will who arrived at 5.20 with disappointment written all over their faces!

The rain arrived during the evening while we were comfortably settled into Cheddar Youth Hostel. After showers, Dillan and Michael cooked fish pie ready meals with carrots and sweetcorn, and were both really pleased with how they turned out. Another hosteller in the kitchen, however, a vet from Exmouth, was cooking some fancy meal in a large pan, even throwing in some wine, and clearly thought himself very clever and superior for cooking that in a Youth Hostel kitchen.

Once again, Will wanted to arrange a game of Manhunt in the hostel grounds, but it was raining so that was out of the question. We had a chat in our room about Will and Fluoride, then played some games of Atomic Bomberman on the laptop before getting to bed at around 10.45.

Dillan and Michael wished they had more porridge for breakfast, but as they had run out they had to have cereal. Later, Dillan was "salty" about packing his pannier, saying he couldn’t squeeze in the laptop power adaptor.

Michael had hoped to leave earlier today in view of the rather wet weather forecast and this being the longest day of the tour, but of course Will took even longer to get ready, so we didn't get away until 9.50 again. Dillan, who was borrowing Gavin's panniers, realised one of the pannier clips was missing, so he returned to the hostel to look for it, but he couldn't find it.

We planned to have a look in the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company on the way up the gorge, but Will stopped to buy a box of tissues as we passed the Tesco Express store, which delayed us a little. We all did the cheese factory tour, which was free for our juniors, and I think everyone found that interesting. We then sampled all the cheeses on display in the visitor centre - Lawrence “sampled” five pieces of cheese straw, just to be certain he liked them!!

We set off again at 10.50, riding all the way up Cheddar Gorge. We passed an attractive cafe on the way and all the youngsters wanted to stop there, but the forecast was for rain moving in and we were late enough already, so Michael kept everyone cycling. The climb wasn't as hard as everyone had expected, and Will, Lawrence and George rode partway down again to ride up with John.

We had light rain by the time we reached the top, so after putting on coats we trusted Google Maps to lead us on the shortest and fastest route to Radstock. The rain turned heavy and everyone got cold, so we stopped under the trees near Litton for a twenty-minute chocolate break, also using the stop to put on waterproofs and gloves.

The rain was easing as we set off again, and by the time we reached Farrington Gurney it had stopped altogether. Michael had promised everyone a warm café stop at the first opportunity, and there was a very warm and attractive cafe right here in the village, called Farrington's Farm Shop. As it was now 1pm we went in and bought first hot drinks and then Carrot and Parsnip soups that were £5.25 each. There was another shower while we were inside, so it was definitely the right decision to stop there. We were given free tickets to use in the associated Cowtastic Play Barn opposite the shop, which we could use any time within the next week, although we didn't think we'd be needing them somehow.

It was 3.20 when we finally left Farrington's, and everyone felt refreshed and happy again with sunshine having replaced the rain. We made fast progress to Midsomer Norton and quickly found the Norton-Radstock Greenway cycle path through to Radstock, which took us past the Tom Huyton Play Park that we saw on our last visit. We stopped near the Radstock Pit Wheel so Lawrence could visit the well-stocked Co-op Superstore just off the roundabout, but we all ended up buying provisions from there since we had stopped.

We continued along the cycle route to Bath, passing chivvies on the path out of Radstock that annoyed Will (I don't remember what I meant there, but maybe Will can remind me?). At Stoney Littleton we found the same, peaceful and tranquil scene we had seen on previous visits, and one of the new lambs in the field almost allowed George to stroke it.

From Wellow we joined the Midford Valley Railway Path, otherwise known as the Two Tunnels path, deciding we didn't have time to stop at the cafe greeting us at the start. When we reached Midford the youngsters were keen to stay on the path for the short and easy route to Bath, but Michael really wanted them to see the aqueduct, so we took the short detour through Monkton Combe school with its impressive sports facilities.

There was light rain again by the time we reached Dundas Aqueduct just after 6pm, but we stopped for photos and video and I think everyone found the place unusual and interesting. We then followed the canal path towards Bath, lined with many barges - some had smoke coming from their chimneys whilst others looked like they were close to sinking!

As we neared Bath the canal path was closed ahead, so we had to take a detour up a hill which was really the last thing everyone wanted. We followed the route down to the centre of Bath, then found our way to the Tesco Express at the bottom of Bathwick Hill by 7.20 for our main provisions stop.

Michael rang Bath Youth Hostel to find out about hostel meals for those who wanted them, and found out that last meal orders would be taken at 8pm. Dillan and Michael wanted those meals, so they set off up the stiff climb of Bathwick Hill, reached the hostel at 7.45 and ordered fish and chips meals for £7.50 each. The meals were going to be cooked to order by chef and wouldn't be ready until 8.45, so they had time to shower first, although the showers weren't the best as they had fixed shower heads.

The hostel meals were good but not quite worth £7.50. The rest of the group joined Dillan and Michael with their ready meals later, made in the kitchen adjacent to the dining room. After a nice chat at the dinner table we had a music quiz in our dorm for half an hour, although Lawrence preferred to sleep on his bed rather than join in the fun. We eventually got to bed later than usual at 11.15.

After getting up soon after 8am, Dillan and Michael were very pleased to have porridge for breakfast again after restocking at the supermarket yesterday. We shared the dining room with a large group of young teenagers, and after chatting with the teacher who was supervising them, found out they were from the Netherlands. Apparently the teacher had hoped they would speak with us to improve their English, but as they hadn't, he got one of them to talk with us for a while. We were impressed with his knowledge of English, which was surprisingly good.

The school group left to walk around Bath on a lovely sunny morning while we were getting ourselves ready, and it was just after 10.15 that we finally left. We rode down to the very old Pulteney Bridge over the Avon, which has narrow shops and cafes lining each side, and decided to have coffee in The Bridge Coffee Shop that overlooked Pulteney Weir. George, who had nearly left his towel behind when he was packing this morning until Michael reminded him about it, now realised he didn't have his coat. Then Lawrence couldn't find his wallet and was determined to ride back up the hill to the hostel to find it. While he was there he found George’s coat behind the curtain, which in fact was caught on Michael's video taken in the room, and John rewarded him later for fetching it.

Our coffee and cakes were very tasty, so it was an enjoyable refreshment stop. After taking some photos of the weir and a strange fishing shop on the corner of the bridge that had a bear outside, we looked in the market opposite for just long enough to work out it was no different to any other market, then rode the short distance to the Roman Baths, next to Bath Abbey.

Everyone except Dillan had looked around the Roman Baths on our last visit to Bath, so they walked around the town buying coffees and lunches, meeting up with Lawrence when he returned, while Michael took Dillan around the Baths from around 11.20. They were really interesting as usual, and Dillan particularly liked the audio talks by Bryson given via our Acoustiguides. The water from the spring was very warm, and we actually drank some from the fountain because it is supposed to have healing properties, although we thought it tasted foul.

We met up with everyone at around 12.35. John had kindly bought excellent pasties for Dillan and Michael, so they could catch up with lunch in the minimal time. After looking at Bath Abbey we rode up through The Circus to Royal Crescent, another must-see feature of Bath, which looked fabulous in the afternoon sunshine.

It was finally time to leave this fascinating city, so we let Google Maps take us down to the riverside path, then followed it westwards, having to do a small detour around a blocked-off section just before Locksbrook. We soon joined the Bristol and Bath Railway Path as planned. Michael messaged his cousin Phil, who had arranged to meet us at Bitton Railway Station for afternoon coffee, but he needn't have bothered as he had just arrived.

We stopped on the path near Saltford so that Lawrence and others could try their Chinese Seaweed, which of course they liked to call just Weed: apparently it tasted of seawater. We then made good speed and met Phil at Bitton Railway Station café at around 2.20. He had kindly reserved a table for us under the marquee. Lawrence bought an enormous hot chocolate with cream and an apple cake as his reward for getting George's coat, and everyone very much enjoyed the stop. Dillan took a while before he was ready to leave, but we finally got away at 3.25.

After riding through Warmley Station and the old Mangotsfield station, we saw a Morrisons by the path at Fishponds, and of course Lawrence really wanted to go in there, but we had trains to catch so we just didn't have time.

We arrived at Temple Meads station at 4.30, giving us time to deal with the potential problem of the 4.53 First Great Western train possibly being unable to take all our bikes, as we had been unable to reserve any of the six bike spaces. We had two bike spaces reserved on the 4.45 Cross Country service to Taunton, so we sent John, Will and George off first on that train - fortunately they were not asked to show the Family Railcard. The rest of us caught the slower 4.53 train: it was packed and already had two bikes on board, so there is no way we would have got six bikes in there.

John and family arrived at Taunton at 5.15 and the rest arrived at 6.20, which left us just enough time to buy hot chocolates from the Starbucks on the station platform. We had six bike spaces reserved on the 6.53 from Taunton to Newton Abbot, and that train was on time, so we were finally able to relax. Several of us bought fruit cake on the train, and we had plenty of time to discuss the highs and lows of our four day epic tour that had included 101 miles of cycling and variable weather conditions. We arrived at Newton Abbot on time at 7.42 and said farewell as we all headed home in two groups.