Our tour started at Newton Abbot station, where five of us from Devon met to catch the 07:58 train to Preston. This brought us to Preston for 1349 where we met Ben Graham from Morpeth, who had applied from the national advertising for the tour. Luke, the seventh and final member of the tour, would meet us tomorrow evening at Malham.

We had good weather, and once we had negotiated some rather busy roads to get out of Preston the scenery started to improve quite dramatically. We stopped for a rest at Burholme Bridge, Whitewell, since someone had helpfully placed a seat there on the triangle of grass at the road junction, and it was just pleasant to soak up the peaceful scenery as the River Hodder flowed under the bridge.

Dunsop Bridge boasted a Post Office and general store, which provided some much needed refreshments while we watched the many ducks on the Village Green.

From there it wasn't far to the hostel at Slaidburn, which was right in the centre of the village. The hostel was interesting, but once we had finished our showers the main thing of interest was the evening meal, which really wasn't bad.

Ryan realised earlier in the day that he had forgotten to bring his helmet! Michael rang home and managed to arrange for Julian to post it up to Dentdale hostel, where hopefully it would be waiting for us when we arrived.

(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 room at Slaidburn was comfortable enough, but it was a little too hot for our liking, so it wasn't the best night.

The Yorkshire Dales, being geologically formed almost entirely of limestone, is famous for its limestone features, resulting from the fact the limestone is slightly soluble in water. With this in mind we rode the fifteen miles or so to Clapham, where we parked our bikes and walked up the very long path to Ingleborough Cave. All the way up the valley we were following the Clapham Beck river which emerges from a cave next to Ingleborough Cave at Clapham Beck Head. This is the same river that, earlier in its life, falls into Gaping Ghyll as Fell Beck.

Once we had negotiated a good group discount we went on the tour of the cave. It really as one of the best Show Caves we had ever seen, with flowstone formations that put many other caves into a poor second place. There were several interesting features that had all been given names, like the Gothic Arch, Alligator's Head and Pool of Reflections. All in all it made an interesting tour that we all felt had been well worth the walk.

Next we took the main road route to Settle, an interesting town where we made a point of visiting the local cycle shop, Settle Cycles, that Michael had visited on a previous tour. It must have been one of the largest and best equipped cycle shops in the country, catering especially well for touring cycles. Nearby was the steam train station.

Leaving Settle involved a long steep climb that took a good deal of energy, so when we eventually reached the Scaleber Force waterfall we were glad to stop for a look around. There wasn't so much water in it today so it didn't look its best, but we could imagine how it might look in winter.

After a bit more climbing we eventually dropped down to Malham, a picturesque village in the heart of the Dales. Nearby was the youth hostel, where we were in an annexe as usual that had been named The Fold. After showers we settled down for our second hostel meal of the tour.

(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)

We made an early start this morning as all the places we wanted to see today were quite close to the hostel. By 9.20 we had set off for the half mile journey to the Malham Cove path.

Malham Cove is a very unusual feature, caused by a river flowing over limestone over millions of years. The river, the Malham Beck, used to flow over the top, but it found a way down through the limestone many years ago, forming caves inside, and now the river flows out at the bottom of the Cove. We spent an enjoyable time climbing along the ridge above the Malham Beck and admiring the many swallows nests secured under the overhangs.

Next stop was Gordale Scar, which meant retracing our steps back through Malham and riding a mile or two in the other direction. When we arrived we found a series of waterfalls flowing through the Scar, the lowest of which formed an almost perfect bathing pool complete with shower. Ryan always gets very excited about water features, especially when he can get in them, so it was no surprise that he was the first into the pool. Michael was second in, which was unusual for him as he normally likes to stay dry, but he seemed to have a whale of time in the fast-flowing waterfall. Luke and Gavin followed, but the others preferred to stay dry, apart from John who dipped his hair in the pool just to say he had joined in the fun. Oliver's excuse was that he was managing the filming, which I suppose was reasonable.

We must have enjoyed more than an hour there in the water, but eventually we dragged ourselves away, got changed, and followed the lane up behind the Scar which eventually joined a track called Mastiles Lane. This was a shortcut recommended in the CTC Route Guide, but it was quite hilly and rough in places and seemed to take us forever to get over to Kilnsey Crag. The scenery was great though, and it gave us a proper appreciation for the unspoiled moorland of the Yorkshire Dales. John and Oliver, while waiting for everyone to catch up, set up a game of cricket with a stone and a branch,

Mastiles Lane finished with a great downhill, which joined the road at Kilnsey Crag. From there we rode a few more miles before finding a pleasant spot for lunch, by the River Wharfe at New Bridge, Kettlewell. We had some greedy ducks for company, so Oliver kept them well fed.

We had another thirteen miles to the hostel, taking us along the river through Wharfedale to Buckden. We couldn't help noticing at feature near Cray that looked remarkably like a small version of Malham Cove. It had been created by a similar process, this time by the Cray Gill Beck, so of course this was called Cray Gill Waterfall.

The hostel at Aysgarth Falls was a massive multi-storey building with a large rear car park. It was nothing special inside, but it was interesting to have so many floors. We had an evening meal provided here, the last for a few days. There was a good games room in the hostel with a pool table, which provided entertainment during the 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)

When Gavin had finished pumping his tyre - again - Oliver had reset the altimeter on his cycle computer to it no longer thought we were at 22000 feet above sea level, we headed off down the road to Aysgarth Falls, used to film part of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves in 1991.

Next stop, after a ten-mile ride, was Hardraw Force waterfall, the highest single-drop waterfall in England. We had to walk up a long path to get to it, but it was worth the walk when we found we could walk on a ledge behind the waterfall. As Gavin pointed out, however, some of the stones on the overhang above us didn't look particular secure!

We rode on to the village of Hawes, in the hear of Wensleydale, and after riding through the village the first place that caught our attention was The Ropemakers. None of us had ever seen a Ropemakers before, and this place was not only open but had a visitor centre and a shop! We didn't realise how many different types of knot there are, although Gavin was please to demonstrate that he knew at least one of them - the Reef Knot - which he had been taught in Scouts. Some of the machines in there were fascinating, weaving many different-coloured cords into a single rope. And Gavin and Ben loved the musical tubes in the shop that acted and sounded a bit like bicycle pumps.

Just opposite The Ropemakers was the Dales Countryside Museum. Some of us took a quick look around the shop and cafe and then ate their lunch, but Ryan and Luke decided to pay to go in and look at the museum itself.

As we were in Wensleydale, we next rode up through Hawes village to the Wensleydale Creamery where the was a Visitor Centre complete with Cheese Shop. They had free samples of loads of different cheeses, including every variety of Wensleydale cheese of course, so some of us spent a considerable time in there trying all the cheeses.

Have spent what felt like most of the day in and around Hawes (it's clearly a very interesting place) we rode the last eight or so miles to Dentdale hostel, stopping just before dropping into Dentdale itself to look at the impressive Dent viaduct. Here Ryan and Luke recounted, for the video, their visit to the Dales Countryside Museum.

Dentdale Youth Hostel definitely won the award for best hostel of the tour. The setting was idyllic and remote, the hostel large and full of character, and the facilities very comfortable. We were self-catering tonight for the first time, but that was fine. Some spent the evening playing a very long game of Monopoly in the Common Room, which Luke was pleased to tell us was won by him "Mega Time".

Ryan's helmet, kindly posted up to Dentdale youth hostel by Julian, was waiting for him at the hostel reception, so now he would have his full cycling gear.

(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)