The overnight stay in Tebay was excellent.  We stayed at the Cross Keys Inn.  The staff were all really welcoming and the food was excellent. 

The only problem was that Scott, Buzz and Hywel went for the mixed grill for tea and I don't think I've ever seen so much meat on a single plate.  Not the best choice with another long day in the saddle to come.



We were greeted with another fine and sunny start to the day.  It was beginning to look like we were going to be very lucky with the weather.  Day 3 saw us head off onto the Yorkshire Dales with 44 miles ahead of us, the longest day of the ride.





We started the day with a lot of on road single track which was very pleasant and not too testing.  Good job really given what was waiting for us.



When we met the first off road section, it was also pleasant and slowly undulating as we made our way to Kirkby Stephen.









Although the countryside was less that the Lakes of the previous days, it was still a fantastic place to be and the rolling hills meant that we were able to knock off some miles pretty quickly.



On reaching Kirkby Stephen, we got another reminder of the trip we were on, although unfortunately chips were not on our menu.



We then headed off road and found ourselves a lovely waterfall.  This group photo turned into a bizarre boy band pose.



Although, not quite as bizarre as Hywel's glamour pose below.



The terrain then took a turn for the worse and we headed off into a boggy area of marshy moorland.



We soon needed to pick the bikes up again as we headed up onto a plateau as we approached the Tan Hill Inn, the half way point of the day..





We were merrily following the path set out on the GPS which, although we couldn't ride, was getting us closer to the food stop.  However, the path that we were following just disappeared. 

We could see a road in the distance, but this involved about 2 miles across damp, boggy moorland.  Our feet were sinking below the surface of the soil.

This was a real test of our morale and brought out the ripest language so far.  I could hear it from 200 yards away when I took the photograph below of the rest of the team crossing the wettest section of the crossing.



We were now on road and had 2 miles to go to the Tan Hill Inn, which is the highest pub in the country and was made famous by the Everest double glazing advert in the 1970's, an advert that has been recently resurrected. 

This was the first time I'd ever seen tame sheep who seemed convinced that they were dogs.







They also had a really sweet cat, who looked like the most peaceful animal on the planet.



To complete the list of tame animals here is one of the cocks who patrolled the outside of the pub like they owned it.



While Scott entertained us with a bit of blues on the pub's guitar, we decided that the best way forward was not to cross the 2 moors that we had planned in the afternoon.  We had lost lots of time on the first moor and if we repeated this in the afternoon, we may not have reached Richmond by sunset.



So we decided to take the road into Richmond.  This was nice.  It was mainly downhill and meant that we got to the B&B early and relaxed ready for a few pints and some nice food.





click here for Day 4