Michael takes great pride in maintaining a clean-shaven appearance, so the discovery that his rechargeable shaver had run out of charge was greeted with dismay: evidently it had switched itself on in his pannier the previous day. Of course he had no charging cable – he had fully charged it before he left home – so finding some way to charge it was uppermost in his mind for the rest of the morning.

First stop today was Goonhilly Downs Earth Station, a key satellite communications facility run by BT that was home to a large number of enormous satellite dishes. In 1962 the Arthur satellite dish received the very first live satellite television broadcasts from the USA.

The site was open to the public, offering displays, a café and a play area that included a small zip wire. Matthew surveyed the various cakes on offer at the café and decided once again that a Snickers bar was the only thing he really wanted. Meanwhile Michael used the telephone facilities to ring home and request that his shaver charger be sent down. It would have been possible to book onto the tour of the site’s dishes and control centre, but we didn’t have time for that today.

When everyone had finished playing on the zip wire and springy animals (Nick really loved riding on his puppy) we rode the few miles to Gweek, mainly downhill. Michael negotiated reduced rate admission to the Seal Sanctuary of £2 per person and we spent an enjoyable hour travelling up to the seals on the Land Rover train and observing the seals and sea-lions both above and below the water.

Those who had not bought lunch in the Seal Sanctuary restaurant bought it at the nearby Spar back in Gweek. We rode on northwards a few miles to find somewhere pleasant to eat it, but it was way after lunchtime and Jered couldn’t go any further without eating so we stopped by the side of a quiet road. You will see from the video that Matthew had bought yet another Snickers bar for his dessert. Later he was seen to have incorporated numerous Snickers wrappers into his shoelaces!

Continuing north we stopped to look at the Wheal Busy copper mine chimney by the side of the road west of Chacewater, which operated from the 16th century up to the 1920s. We made good speed once again and arrived at Perranporth early – a very impressive performance by everyone in the group.

Perranporth hostel, a small building perched on a cliff-top overlooking one of the largest beaches in the country, was supposed to be closed today, but because the regional office had inadvertently accepted our booking earlier in the year they had decided to open it especially for us. They were having new windows installed during our visit, but we had the whole place to ourselves.

Exploration of the beach was top of our agenda for the evening, and we wanted to enjoy it before darkness fell, so supper had to wait until later. The tide was in but there was still plenty of beach left to enjoy. Nick and Jered decided to dig down through the sand to the water level, but when people realised Nick’s hole was big enough to bury him he soon found himself up to his neck in sand.

Michael led an excursion to Chapel Rock, an island on the beach that was surrounded by shallow water. Nick couldn’t help complaining that the water was too cold of course. When Michael and Matthew tried a more adventurous excursion around the sea-facing side of the rock, however, both of them ended up soaked from the waist down.

We bought milk from the shop on the way back to the hostel (they didn’t have any bread), showered and then set about preparing our first self-catering meal of the tour in the tiny hostel kitchen. Packets of Pasta and Sauce proved popular, although Eliot was more adventurous and actually fried an egg. Julian’s eyes were bigger than his stomach: he cooked so much pasta and tuna that he had to get Jered to help him out with eating it. To finish his meal, Eliot opened a can of custard and ate it all by himself.

We hung our wet clothes on the line outside the hostel and though it would have a good chance of drying by morning in view of the strong winds coming off the sea. The rest of the evening was spent chatting in the cosy common room.

Nick was enjoying an extended sleep this morning, but he woke up pretty quickly when he felt water dripping onto his face. Michael was the culprit, but he felt it was only fair since everyone else had woken up at the appropriate time.

Our clothes was nearly dry this morning after being pummelled with a sea breeze all night. We did have a problem though: we had no bread. Nick and Eliot kindly agreed to ride down to the village shop to get some, so breakfast got underway a little later than planned.

The tide was now almost right out so we couldn’t resist a final walk on the now enormous beach, walking right down to the distant shoreline. Everything looked fabulous in the morning sunshine and we were reluctant to move on.

Goonhavern’s World in Miniature was our next stop, just a couple of miles out of Perranporth. We felt ripped off by a high entry charge, but after whizzing past the rather tacky models of famous places we got our money’s worth from the radio controlled boats, bumper cars, Cinema 180 and bouncy castle maize. There was also a ball pool: it was funny to see both Michael and Julian joining in the fun!

We took the main road to Newquay in the hope of riding the pedal boats in the Trenance park. Sadly it was too early in the season and they had not been brought out of storage yet, so we pressed on to Mawgan Porth and bought ice-creams from the local beach shop.

A stiff climb brought us to the Bedruthan Steps, a steep staircase leading down the cliffs to the beach below. When we reached the bottom we discovered that the tide was in, covering all the sand and leaving us with just a few rocks to stand on.

Michael set a challenge by making a dash across some exposed sand before the next wave came in. The youngsters joined in but couldn’t resist playing chicken with the waves, so it wasn’t long before Eliot and Nick had wet feet. Michael took the precaution of removing his shoes and socks, but that proved rather pointless when a big wave came out of the blue and soaked him from the waist down. When another one came and soaked him from the neck down the laughter could be heard at the top of the cliff!

The hostel was only about three miles away, located next to a secluded beach in Treyarnon Bay. It was late afternoon so we had time to really enjoy this beach: Nick and Michael bravely went all the way under the water, Eliot and Matthew made some brave attempts and at least got wet.

The hostel was full tonight, and once again we had been consigned to the annexe building rather than the cosy rooms in the main hostel. For the first time on the tour we had to share our dorm with two other hostellers.

Our shower control system worked well tonight, with four of us getting showered before supper time: Matthew generously allowed Michael to go in before him even though he got there first. The meal, provided by the hostel, was excellent and included a delicious pudding and custard for dessert.

The kids reckoned Michael looked 'mean' with 2 days’ growth on his face, but Michael was very relieved when his relative Neil, who lived locally, arrived with his charger which had been posted down. A few minutes later he emerged from the washroom looking a new man!

Neil also brought another unexpected entertainment in the form of his two dogs. We all enjoyed taking them for a walk along the grassy headland, then retired to the common room for hot drinks before heading for bed.

We decided Matt might have felt left out yesterday morning when his friend Nick got awoken by dripping water, so this morning we put things right with an even larger dose of water: we suspect he will be first up tomorrow.

This hostel was large enough to have a drying room, and those of us who had the sense to use it last night found all their clothes bone dry this morning. Eliot, however, had decided his clothes stood a much better chance of drying overnight in the dorm. He was wrong, and had to put on damp cycling gear.

After a great breakfast we set off for the five-mile ride to Padstow. We passed Harlyn beach on the way but, enticing though it looked, we didn’t feel like getting wet clothes again so early in the day. In the picturesque fishing village of Padstow we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the café opposite the harbour, watching children catching crabs off the harbour wall.

The village offered plenty of choice in bakery shops and supermarkets, so when we had bought lunch and supper we took to the Camel Trail cycle path, opened ten years ago. There are cycle hire shops at both ends but it was still a surprise to see just how many cyclists of all ages were using the trail today.

We stopped for lunch halfway along the path at a place that had good views of the river Camel. This was definitely the hottest day of the tour so far, so we were glad of the rest.

After setting off once more Julian instructed Matt to go back and collect a crust he had discarded on the side of the path: the naughty child pretended to go back, retrieved a similar crust from his pannier and managed to convince Julian he had done what he had been asked!

At the far end of the path at Wadebridge we found the Revolution bike hire shop: we didn’t particularly fancy any of the bikes that were available for hire but it was nevertheless interesting to look around and see how many people were going in and out. We then proceeded with good speed along the main road to St Kew Highway and onwards to Delabole, famous for its slate. We quickly found a shop and purchased various ice-creams to help keep us cool.

Julian led us the final few miles to Tintagel by 3.30, and then along the coastal path to the spectacular youth hostel, isolated, dug into the top of the cliff and offering amazing views of the sea. Jered’s parents were waiting to whisk him away to North Wales to join a weekend cycling trip organised by his London CTC group, but once we had said farewell to him we walked back past the church and down to the village.

Our plan was to look at Tintagel Castle, legendary birthplace of King Arthur located high on a rocky island near the beach, but when we arrived an officious woman informed us that it was nearly closing time so we couldn’t go in. Michael did his best to change her mind, pointing out that we could easily see a lot of the castle by walking down the free path to the beach area and wouldn’t it be better if she got a bit of money out of us, but she would not change her mind. So we went down to the beach, which was nothing much to speak of, and walked up to the little bridge that goes across to the castle. From here we could see pretty much everything we needed to see, so in the end we got what we wanted free of charge.

After discovering a short-cut back to the hostel that Michael didn’t know existed we settled ourselves into the cosy hostel for the evening. It had just received an £80 000 refit so the kitchen and dormitories were very modern and comfortable. We were self-catering again, and tonight everyone made their meals from packets of Pasta and Sauce. The results were so tasty that many decided to have them regularly when they got home.

When Matt had amazed everyone by volunteering to wash the dishes and wipe the tables we played some games in the common room and had chats in the dorm with the father and son (Tom) who shared it with us. One of our youngsters thought it would be funny to tie a knot in Julian’s sheet sleeping bag while he was out of the room, but when he came to go to bed he really couldn’t see the funny side of it at all. Poor Julian!

Matthew likes a glass of water during the night, so he took the trouble to fill a glass in the kitchen. The problem was, every time he left it unattended for a few minutes, Nick would drink it. He had to return to the kitchen twice more before Nick finally gave up.

Annoyingly, two more hostellers arrived late and came into the dorm after we had turned out the lights – and one of them didn’t use a sheet bag.

We had a long way to ride today so we got up early, took a group video outside the hostel and set off up the hill for Davidstow Moor on a cloudy and chilly morning. This was fast riding and it wasn’t long before we had ridden through Altarnun and crossed to the centre of Bodmin Moor. Here the Jamaica Inn provided welcome refreshments.

With trains to catch there was no time to lose, but now the road was nearly all downhill so progress was even swifter crossing the moor southwards to Liskeard - we managed to find a few minutes for a quick video stop along the way. The A38 provided a fast route to Trerulefoot and then a final descent brought us to the cars at Antony by 1.15.

When we had cleaned off some of the thick layer of dust that had covered our cars during the preceding week and loaded the bikes and luggage we drove to Plymouth for a stop at Sainsburys for lunch and provisions, then returned to Buckfastleigh so that “Matty” could examine the touring bike that Michael wanted to sell. After a few computers games we took Nick and Matthew to Exeter to catch the train to Reading that they had originally planned to catch from Plymouth.

This tour had turned out to be a complete success, with all the participants saying they had really enjoyed it. Good weather had helped a lot, but perhaps the main reason for the tour being so much fun was that we were fortunate enough to have such a friendly and enthusiastic bunch of youngsters taking part.

Today was the start of our epic tour of Norway, a country we last visited in 1989. Travel arrangements were complicated, and made more so on the morning when Julian and Michael were told at Newton Abbot that their booked 9.29 train had been delayed by a lightning strike at Totnes. They were advised to take the earlier 9.15 train instead, so when Tao and Eliot turned up to see them off, the platform was deserted.

By making a hasty telephone call at a station on the way up they managed to alert Nick and family to be at Reading station earlier than the 1152 planned time, so then there were three travelling on the London Underground with bikes.

Kieron and Graham were waiting for us at King’s Cross, and since we were not allowed on the earlier train we reverted to the originally planned 1330 train to Newcastle which turned out to be very crowded. We arrived on time and after finding our way through the extremely busy streets we eventually got onto the road to the Tyne Tunnel and reached the ferry terminal at North Shields by around 6.00.

As we waited in line at the quayside in the evening sunshine we were able to see just how enormous the ColorLine ferry was. The 20.5 Gigaton MS Color Viking is the only ferry crossing between the UK and Norway and brings a lot of welcome trade both to Newcastle and Bergen. Strangely enough our passports were not checked, and soon we were loaded onto Deck 4. We watched from the upper decks as the ferry left port at 7pm and headed out to the North Sea on its 24-hour crossing. This was indeed the beginning of another great adventure.

The boat had around 13 decks and more than three restaurants as well as numerous shops. There was even a swimming pool on the lowest deck for those who could afford it. We ate our packed food on one of the upper decks, explored the ship inside and out while the sun set on the distant horizon and then settled down to get what sleep we could in the reclining chairs (we had not booked cabins to save on costs). This proved rather uncomfortable however so we moved to the carpeted floor nearby where we could stretch out. It was good to be near the outside deck in case anyone felt ill – or in case the ship sank!

We all seemed to get enough sleep somehow despite not having beds. Our first problem was how to use our packed breakfast cereal to make breakfast and thereby avoid the rather high prices for breakfast in the restaurants. The answer was to buy a glass of milk from the restaurant and take it back to our seats –we had all brought bowls and spoons.

The day had dawned sunny and bright so the views over the North Sea were breath-taking. We were not due to reach Norway until evening however so we had all day to amuse ourselves on this rather large boat. It turned out that there was a cinema on board, so we enjoyed a couple of hours watching the film Richie Rich, then bought some Norwegian chocolate from the duty-free shop and finally carried out an extensive exploration of the whole ship. Somewhere along the way we ate the packed lunch we had brought with us.

We got our first views of the distant Norwegian coastline around mid-afternoon, and by 5pm we had docked at Stavanger to drop off a few passengers. The ship then wove its way northwards along the coast, passing between islands and under bridges, until we reached Haugesund, another drop-off point.

We were feeling a little hungry by now, so we selected the most affordable restaurant on board and bought some very tasty pizzas for £4.20 each. Now that we knew our way around the many decks fairly well Nick helped do a guided tour of the ship for the video – we had to leave out some of the footage, including the lowest decks, as it would simply have made the video too long.

We arrived at Bergen, Norway’s second city, by around 9pm. There was plenty to see during the long docking process, and then it took a while to unload all the cars and our bikes. Nick was a bit anxious that his passport hadn’t been signed, but it was all OK in the end and finally we were riding around the delightful and spacious city with its parks and fountains and many wooden buildings. It was still light at 10pm and there were people bustling everywhere, yet the atmosphere was very relaxed. We took our time looking around, picking out places we would visit tomorrow morning before moving on.

Kieron struggled a bit on the two-mile climb to the hostel, but when we arrived it was very modern and comfortable. The hostel overlooked the whole of Bergen so we got some amazing views from the grounds after dark. What was perhaps most amazing was how quiet this large city was. This felt like the beginning of a very special cycle tour.

Norwegian-style breakfast was included in our overnight stay at Bergen hostel. There were cereals, huge bowls of yoghurt, herring, cheeses, cold meats, breads, jams – all very tasty and generally very healthy. The verdict from our group was a definite thumbs up.

We were using a train today to get us up into the mountains, so after descending to Bergen we quickly found the train station, picked a train and booked our bikes on it. We had plenty of time before the train was due to depart, so we left out bikes at the station and began our detailed exploration of the city, once Norway’s capital.

A shop selling fleeces and stuffed animals was the first to catch our attention, reflecting Norway’s strong hunting tradition. We saw some of Bergen’s famous cobbled streets and could see why Bergen is said to have the largest number of well-kept colourful wooden houses anywhere in Europe.

The fish market on the harbour side was definitely the most fascinating spectacle of the morning. Norway has a huge coastline and a very great love of fish, so the range of produce on offer was staggering. Live lobsters waddled around in tanks waiting to be bought and dropped in boiling water, and hundreds of crabs were laid out on display. At one point we came across slabs of flesh that looked remarkably like whale-meat, confirmed by a little picture of a whale nearby – that made us feel a little uncomfortable.

We returned to the main shopping square and browsed ordinary shops selling electrical items and outdoor clothing, then moved to a huge shopping centre with a Viking boat hanging from the roof. There was time for a very enjoyable café stop, where Julian enjoyed cream cake on the tables outside, before we headed back to the station and boarded the 1.30 electric train for Myrdal.

The railway line we were taking is known as the Bergen Line, a single-track line built in the 19th century to cross the Hardangervidda plateau at a height of 1237m above sea level. It remains the highest mainline railway line in Northern Europe and offered us spectacular views during our two and a quarter hour climb.

From Myrdal station near the top we had considered the possibility of using another train to take us down the steep Flåm valley, one of the most scenic areas of Norway and very popular with tourists. But there was a track going down and in the end we decided to give it a try – after all, the weather was good and it was all downhill.

The first half was very rough and steep with hairpin bends – Julian was not too impressed as he was on his road bike, but the whole valley was very attractive with its fast flowing mountain rivers, snow-topped mountains, tunnels and high wooded sides. The rail track that was weaving around our track all the way down was an incredible feat of engineering. A simple wooden cross with the name Philipp written on it made us wonder whether it was for a dog or a child.

The second part of the journey had a tarmac surface so then everyone was happy. It led us to the tiny village of Flåm, situated in a picturesque location on the edge of the Aurlands fjord. Our hostel was in the camp site close to the fjord. It was grade 1, the simplest kind in Norway, but we had a wooden chalet all to ourselves with three two-bedded rooms each equipped with table and kitchen facilities. Once we had settled in and eaten our food we played Frisbee by the fjord, enjoying the absolute tranquillity of this beautiful place.

After a makeshift breakfast put together from bits we had in our panniers from Bergen, milk we bought from the camping shops and bowls we had brought with us from England we set off along the edge of the Aurlandsfjord towards Aurland, stopping to look at some very expensive, very amazing cruise ships along the way. The many linked roads around Aurland explained our one wrong turn, but we were soon starting up the hairpin climbs of Bjorgavegan that would lead us over the mountains to the Sognefjord.

This incredible road reaches a height of 1306m at the summit, the second highest climb of the tour, but almost at the first hairpin Kieron was having breathing problems. He wasn’t used to long cycle rides and he was having some breathing difficulties on the climb. We pressed on, enjoying some of the most spectacular views of the tour: this was the definition of Norway’s scenic beauty, and these views alone almost made our whole trip worthwhile.

We gave Kieron all the support we could, but it was soon obvious that he would not make the top in time. Fortunately we managed to find a friendly driver who gave him a lift to the top while the rest of us cycled, pausing briefly to chat with a couple of cyclists from Oslo.

Despite the soaring temperatures and buzzing flies there was snow lying all around as we neared the top, a very unusual sight for us in the middle of summer. We couldn’t resist playing on it for a while – snow fun without the disadvantages of cold fingers.

Reunited with Kieron we rode along the top of the mountain and then enjoyed the longest most exhilarating descent most of us had ever experienced, dropping 1300m to the fjord in a distance of just a ten miles with a few rather hair-raising hairpin bends along the way.

It was now getting quite late and we still had to ride seven miles along the fjord to the ferry at Revsnes. On arrival we watched as an enormous double-decker ferry opened up for the lower deck in way we never expected. Fortunately for Michael, who was very thirsty, there was a café on board which allowed us to pass the time very pleasurably for the short journey to Kaupanger.

From the ferry terminal there was a short climb to the town of Kaupanger followed by an enjoyable long descent to Sogndal, location of our next youth hostel, and I think it’s fair to say we were all very pleased to arrive.

This was a grade 3 hostel, but we were in rooms that were away from the hostel again. This time it was an accomodation block used by school students during term time, so it was quite comfortable. There was a problem in the kitchen department however: we couldn’t find any pans or other kitchen utensils, then noticed a sign that said we had to bring our own! It would have been slightly awkward carrying cooking utensils on the bike even if we had been told in advance. Anyway, we made the best cold food we could without utensils and then settled down to watch television – they were showing the BBC comedy ‘Allo ‘Allo, which made us feel a little better.

We slept quite well in our school dorms, but as we got ready to leave Julian was very unhappy with the colour of the tap water which was a shade of grey, no doubt straight from the mountain streams.

We looked around the town of Sogndal but unfortunately, being Sunday, everything was shut. At least we could browse the bikes on display in the cycle shop window.

Our route today was mainly flat. We rode around Barsnesfjorden and then came to our first tunnel, Aroy, only 403m long but still an event for us. After riding around Hafslo lake we climbed a little and then dropped down to picturesque Marifjora where we found a convenient seat overlooking the fjord for lunch. The weather today was perfect so we spent an enjoyable hour, with Graham describing a strange new clear Pepsi drink called Crystal Pepsi, Michael getting excited over Norwegian chocolate and everyone rocking around on a nearby floating jetty.

We still had a fair way to go, so we pressed on around our sub-fjord through Gaupne and then followed the main Lustrafjord right down the northern edge. Part-way along we saw a strange swirling vortex in the middle of the fjord: we never managed to explain what it was, although we suspected there was a hefty stream of water somehow flowing down under the fjord from the opposite mountain.

The hostel at Skjolden, which was grade 2, was situated right beside a huge river as it cascaded into the head of the fjord – the amazing sound of the water made this a very special hostel that most felt was the best of the tour. There were tables and chairs on the grass between our rooms and the river, so we spent most of the evening there taking drinks, eating meals and writing postcards.

There was some amusement when Graham, who had bought a microwavable Chilli Con Carne ready meal, decided to cook it in a saucepan of boiling water in the absence of a microwave oven. The result may have turned out better if he had avoided un-sealing the film cover before boiling it.

Breakfast by the river was delightful this morning, but we had a long climb ahead of us so we packed our bags early, stocked up with food at the local store and then started the huge climb over the Jotunheim Mountains that would take most of the day.

It was hot weather for a uphill cycling, but fortunately we were following an icy mountain river all the way up which offered plenty of opportunities to cool off in the waterfalls and pools. Julian soaked his shirt in a stream on several occasions, Nick enjoyed ducking his head under the glacier water and Graham just did some wading.

The road wasn't too steep, but as we neared the upper reaches there were multiple hairpin bends that kept the gradient easy - too steep and the road would be useless to cars in winter.

When we reached the 1000m sign there was plenty of snow to be seen on the nearby mountain tops and some fabulous views from the viewpoints. This was the Hurrungane mountain range, having some of the most alpine peaks in Norway, with 23 over 2000m. Galdhöpiggen is Scandinavia’s highest mountain at 2469m. An information board by the road pointed out the names of the nearby peaks. As we climbed past 1100m we could see our first glaciers in the high mountains.

After a lunch stop in the shade of a wooden hut we pressed on past 1200m and now found deep snow lying by the side of the road, offering plenty of fun in the hot sunshine. In the final stretches to the peak at 1434m the sights were just totally amazing - incredible glaciers not far from the road, massive lakes with icebergs and mountain peaks touching the clouds. We took a fair few photographs of this strange and wonderful landscape.

The last part of the day was certainly the easiest, with a long 18-mile downhill ride all the way to the hostel. The hairpins near the top were a bit treacherous in places but it really was the best downhill ride of the whole tour. Snowy peaks turned to forests and fast flowing glacial rivers.

When we finally reached the grade 2 hostel it was nothing special, a rather dull building by the side of the road, but it was comfortable enough inside.