Day 5 Osmotherly to Earby

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.