Dentdale Youth Hostel was definitely the best hostel of the tour, and we had plenty more time to enjoy it on this sunny morning as we effected numerous bike repairs in the grounds, including lubricating Ryan's brakes and greasing up Gavin's headset. By the time we left we were running about an hour and a half late, but we couldn't have picked a nicer place to spend the time. Even as we rode out of the hostel drive, the River Dee that runs along the boundary was itself a delight to watch as it tumbled over natural stone steps on the river bed.

Our leisurely morning continued with a ride down the valley of Dentdale to Dent, which I suppose is the capital village of Dentdale. It was a delightful village, just as Michael remembered it from his last visit, with cobbled, narrow streets and quaint Dales houses. We had an excellent cafe stop in the Stone Close Tearooms, then went around the corner to the only shop in town, the Dent Stores, where we stocked up with provisions for the day and evening. Nobody was in much of a hurry as the pace of life here seemed so much slower than everywhere else we had been.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away and headed back up the valley to the hostel, this time taking the even quieter road on the other side of the river, which offered us better views of Dentdale. When we rejoined the other road at Cowgill, however, we discovered a natural pool in the River Dee. Since everyone was feeling quite hot and we were in no particular hurry we decided to stop for lunch and our second swim of the tour, and this turned out to be another of those magical tour moments that everyone will remember.

It was just perfect there by the river. Ryan went in immediately of course, although Gavin got slightly concerned at the screams he made when he went fully underneath the icy waters.
He wasn't sure he was going to go right in at all until Oliver, who was filming, suggested that Ryan help Gavin get under the water. This provided some general amusement for all. Soon Michael was in as well, then Luke, and even John ventured into a shallow pool up to his knees.

Eventually we set off up the hill past Lea Yeat Brow which took us out of the Dale, at the same time offering us some excellent views of Dentdale. After riding through Garsdale and riding the short section of road past Hardraw Force for the second time on this tour, we climbed up out of Wensleydale to High Shaw, where Oliver and John uprooted a road marker and had a sword fight with it.

As we approached the top of the hill we came across Buttertubs by the side of the road, an unusual set of limestone potholes that were twenty metres deep. This kind of feature can only be found in Limestone of course, and it's rare to find it so close to the road, so we spent a little time wandering around and even walking over the top of some of the pillars. Michael explained to Oliver and John that the correct local pronunciation should be used, "booter toobs", but they wouldn't have it.

From Buttertubs it was mainly downhill to Thwaite as we entered Swaledale, and from Thwaite it wasn't much further to the Youth Hostel at Keld. This was a large house by the side of the road that had plenty of character. We were self-catering again this evening, but Gavin had some repairs to effect before we headed to bed.

Michael always remembers the enormous rabbit called Henry who lived in this hostel for our 1987 visit, having free roam of the dining room while we were eating our meal.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Our night at Keld Youth Hostel was OK, although some felt the beds were too small and Gavin felt the rooms layout was a little confusing. After breakfast, Gavin completed last night's bike repairs - Luke reckoned his bike needed a service!. Oliver also carried out some repairs, as he had found a bulge on his rear tyre - he reinforced it with one of Michael's canvas sections to hopefully keep it going until he gets home.

The weather was not great for the longest day of the tour, but at least there wasn't much rain around. We started by riding through Muker, the village used for the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, and we quickly spotted the house used for James Herriot's surgery. We then had a stiff climb out of Swaledale over Reeth High Moor, where we had no trouble spotting the hundreds of grouse roaming around the moorland just waiting to be shot. Still, they brightened up an otherwise grey morning.

Next we descended into our final Dale of the tour, Arkengarthdale, at Langthwaite, but then quickly climbed out of it again as we exited the Yorkshire Dales National Park at Hope Moor. It was quite a hilly route, but eventually we arrived at Barnard Castle, where the showpiece monument was clearly visible from the road. We had planned to stop here for provisions, but I have a feeling we were running late so probably made it a very quick stop at the co-op.

We pressed on through Middleton-in-Teesdale and then rode up the Tees Valley, passing Low Force waterfall but stopping at High Force waterfall, which is definitely the most impressive of the two. There was a bit of a walk up the path from the car park, but when we arrived it was well worth the effort, with a huge volume of water emptying over the edge. There was considerable interest in seeing it from the top of course, we we walked around the back path and soon found ourselves walking on the rocky area right next to the falls. Michael, who is never comfortable with heights at the best of times, took extra precautions to keep everyone well away from the edge, but we got some very memorable sights from this superb vantage point.

Returning to the bikes we had just under three miles to ride to reach Langdon Beck Youth Hostel, which really did feel like it was in the middle of nowhere. Once again we were self-catering, and I don't think anyone felt much like going out for an evening walk this evening.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

Breakfast at Langdon Beck hostel was not quite as peaceful as usual this morning, as Oliver managed to get hold of Michael's camcorder. Looking back, however, it was an excellent idea, and I'm really glad he did- it's interesting to capture a normal hostel breakfast for a change.

There was some incident involving fire at the hostel this morning which apparently prompted the warden to ask me to consider having pyromaniac-inclined members checked over by a psychologist before bringing them on future tours! John was discussing it on video when we reached the top of the hill, so perhaps you can remember the details?

We had a fairly long day again today, although not quite as long as yesterday, and nowhere near as hilly. As we were leaving the hostel we saw a number of interesting birds on the grassland opposite which turned out to be Lapwings, commonly found in the North Pennines. We managed to catch some on video.

The hostel was nearly at the top of the very long hill we had climbed yesterday to get here, and once we had reached the top we had a long downhill to Alston, which was a lot of fun. Here we found an excellent cafe called Blueberry's Tea Shop where we relaxed for well over half an hour.

When we had bought provisions we rode on along a lane called Isaac's Tea Trail which followed the River South Tyne. Soon we found a perfect spot for lunch, in a grassy field overlooking the wooded river valley. If we were giving ratings for lunch spots this one would have scored at least 9 out of 10, and it's not often we find something as good as that.

Continuing along the lane took us across Thompson's Well Bridge to the main road at Slaggyford, but the quiet country lane route we had taken thus far had been an excellent choice. Now we had to stay on main road to Lambley and then took lanes through Rowfoot to reach Haltwhistle. This was our last chance of a refreshment stop, so we found a cafe for refreshments.

A short climb of about a mile brought us to Hadrian's Wall, the main point of interest today. The map brought us to a path that took us up to Cawfields Milecastle 42 on the wall, which was really quite a short walk. This gave us plenty to see, including a large section of restored wall, information boards about the history of the wall and this particular milecastle, and a great overview of the Milecastle itself when we had taken the trouble to climb the wall on the opposite side of the dip. It was really quite something to get so close to such an ancient structure.

It was now just four miles to the hostel at Greenhead, the last hostel of the tour, where we arrived just in time for our provided evening meal. It was a strange building, built inside an old chapel, so it felt a bit simple and a bit cavernous, with a very high ceiling - rather like a chapel in fact! But it did the job, providing us with a place to stay that was within easy riding distance of Carlisle tomorrow.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)

The self-catering kitchen at Greenhead hostel is just a corner of the Common Room / Dining Room that has been boxed off with a partition, but there is nothing to stop the aroma of cooked food spreading throughout the area. It still felt like we were eating our breakfast in a Chapel despite the "conversion" to a hostel.

Oliver somehow managed to upset two young hostellers while playing Pool before we left, but I don't remember exactly how he did that - maybe he can remember?

We had twenty miles to ride to Carlisle this morning, but it was pretty much all downhill, so after taking the quieter lane route through Gisland and Upper Denton we joined the A69 for a fast and furious ride to Carlisle station. Oliver was carefully nursing the hole in his tyre, patched up a few days ago at Keld, as it was definitely getting larger and more bulgy. There was a significant chance it would burst before we got to Carlisle, but by some miracle it held together by a few threads and we got to Carlisle station at about 11.35

We were in plenty of time for our 13.13 train, so we had time to go into the town to buy lunch, finding a particularly good family bakery in Lowther Street called W Sproat & Son, where Gavin was last out with his lunch.

I believe Ben was collected from Carlisle this morning by his parents, as he lives locally, but it is possible he was collected last night from Greenhead.

Michael had had numerous difficulties booking the train over the past few months, having to deal directly with Virgin Trains head office. The ultra cheap Super Advance tickets had been cancelled for today because of the Solar Eclipse in two days' time. so we had only been allowed to buy Advance tickets. Anyway, the train left pretty much on time at 13:13 and there were no problems with the bikes.

It's a wonderful feeling when the tour is all but over and the train is taking the strain for the final few hours. Gavin fell asleep after his lunch, and Michael was having difficulty staying awake. We entertained ourselves happily on the train home, and were joined by a mother and son at Birmingham who played numerous games of Dominoes with us.

Our train reached Newton Abbot a few minutes after 19:03 as it was running a little late, but apart from that, everything had gone smoothly and another tour was successfully completed. The weather had been good at times, average at other times, but we had managed to go the whole week with very little rain. The Yorkshire Dales had once again proved a great tour destination, and we will all remember the events of this tour for a very long time.

(No notes have yet been found for today's ride, so this report was written from memory in 2021. Please let Michael know if you remember any other details from the ride)