C2C #4: Hornsea to Huddersfield (87mi)

Now the official coast to coast route has been completed, all we need to do is get ourselves back home. As per usual we awoke at the crack of dawn and immediately started packing things up ready for the day ahead of us. It seemed to take less time today... are we getting quicker with the routine?

As we were up and away before 08:00, not many establishments were open and serving breakfast - especially on a Sunday. A local pointed us in the direction of Hornsea Mere, and while we did get a couple of nice pictures, the café was still making preparations for their opening at 09:00. It wasn't until 15 miles later where we finally got our breakfast in Beverley.

View over Hornsea Mere

The café we found was really nice, and whilst they too didn't open for another hour, they went the extra mile to accommodate us and our grumbling bellies. We may have squeezed a piece of cake in there somewhere to wash breakfast down, but who's counting? ;-)

Lempicka Café in Beverley

Most of the journey was again on quiet country roads, until we drew nearer to home where we had to resort to main roads. While the terrain was relatively kind, the wind was not. We battled against a relentless westerly headwind all the way home and we arrived back in Huddersfield completely and utterly exhausted.  At least it was dry, but on the flip side I caught the sun and I'm now paying the price. Ouch! On the plus side, though, mission accomplished! And what an awesome experience it has been.

We sprawled in the grass and ate lunch... Cue the hay-fever!

A summary of our trip:
Distance: 367 miles (Average 92 miles per day)
Speed: Average 12.5 mph
Time in the Saddle: 29 hours, 10 minutes (Average 7 hours, 18 minutes per day)
Thanks for reading!

Where we picked our strawberries for a snack

C2C #3: Ripon to Hornsea (117mi)

Sad to leave our new favourite campsite, we had no choice if we wanted to arrive at our destination before sunset. This will be our longest day of the trip, with 117 miles to cover. Fortunately for us, it is also the flattest with very few hills thrown in between Ripon and Hornsea.

A short stint on the bikes had us in the centre of Ripon, where we found a nice café to have us some breakfast. Okay, okay, we each had a full English, but don't judge us. Once we hit the road again, we were soon passing through some really beautiful scenery. Some of the villages were likes nothing I've ever seen before. They were the kind where, if you won the lottery, you'd want to live there. Very nice indeed.

The worst surface we had to ride on, but stunning views

We managed the entire journey with only a couple of drops of rain - quite literally; the rest of the day remained quite pleasant. Once on the other side of Driffield, we knew we only had 20 or so miles to reach the official end point of the Way of the Roses route and boy did those 20 miles drag out. As we approached the coast heading directly east, each peak of each climb had us thinking it would be the last before the final descent down to sea level. How wrong we were. The undulations just kept coming and coming and it honestly felt like we'd never arrive. But of course we did, and it felt awesome. After a well deserved ice cream on the promenade at Bridlington, we made the final 15 miles to our back-garden accommodation for the night. Hoorah - we've done it! Just got to get ourselves back home now.

Om nom nom...

A genuine smile this time!