We had actually arrived at Southport by train from Hull the previous day and having seen the starting post at the front, cycled to Ormskirk to stay with Emma's brother. We set off from Ormskirk and re-joined the trail at Maghull, biking slightly further than if we had gone along the trail directly. We then continued on the trail through Liverpool where we were sorry to see lots of broken glass along the way. In fact it was so bad in Speke that we carried our bikes over it! I also managed to get a puncture (a thorn) after only 30 miles but fortunately this was to be the only one.

From Hale onwards the wind was behind us and it was very easy going. We stopped for a couple of drinks at the Ferry Tavern, which was great. Finally, we were at our destination, a B&B in Warrington, by mid-afternoon having covered about 38 miles.

We decided to buy two more inner-tubes first thing after the worryingly early puncture. The B&B was in fact only a 'B' (did not provide breakfast) so we set off for Lymm where we had a much-needed bacon butty. We had treated ourselves to a stay in a hotel tonight and did not have that far to travel. However, the heavens opened and the rain came down so heavily we retreated to a pub for about 2 hours. Having donned our water-proof clothing we set off again along the main road to Sale, the trail being made impassable due to the rain. Today turned out to be the hardest with our very heavy panniers becoming even more so with the rain. We arrived at the hotel very tired and worst of all our change of clothes were wet through too. We spent the night drying out everything in the room having slowly covered 34 miles.

Day 3: 5 July 2005 Mottram to Worsborough

We set off with much trepidation knowing we must cross the Pennines with a poor weather forecast. We set off before 8 am to try and beat the rain which was heading in from the West. The hills were hard going but the scenery was fantastic and brought it home to us what we were doing. We reached the highest point in cold but dry conditions. The remainder of the trail was very pleasant and the extremely flat Dove trail section was a welcome relief. Total mileage today had been kept at a deliberately low 28 miles.

The trail was hard going early on as it had rained solidly all night. We decided to go through Doncaster/Bentley on the main road to avoid the trail at this point. The rain cleared up and we finished the day with sunny conditions. The trail from Toll Bar onwards was really beautiful and we got to Snaith and checked into our B&B having done 38 miles.

A rainy start and head wind made for difficult progress to Selby and we were both quite tired by the time we got to Howden. The remainder of the day was quite hard going and I was glad to see the first glimpse of the Humber Bridge at Weighton Lock at dinnertime. We made decent progress after this and stopped for a drink at the Humber Bridge Country Park, finally reaching home having done 49 miles.

Day 6: 8 July 2005 Hull to Hornsea and back

After a late start we made the relatively short trip to Hornsea having thankfully left the panniers at home. We had out photograph taken next to the finish post and some really tasty fish & chips as a reward! Ironically, the trail was closed for the one and only time a mere 8 miles before the end meaning we had to divert across a field. We got back to Hull extremely sore but very pleased with our achievement. In total we had biked 232 miles. I would certainly recommend the TPT, it is a fantastic way to see the countryside, which is surprisingly picturesque at virtually every point. If anyone is thinking of doing it then I would just say two words: Water-proof clothing!

Gary Liney & Emma Walmsley (Hull)