Back to sunshine for our last day of the route, still very warm but not as hot as the first three days. We followed a cycle track out of the city into the East Riding, replete with lovely wooden direction signs. We passed Fat Rabbit Farm and Burn Butts Farm, tomorrow we would stumble on Google Farm. We rode through rich arable farmland, hay baled in fields in stacks and on trailers. We spurned the Pocklington tea shop in favour of the Buddhist Centre a few miles further on. The sign at the end of the long drive said “No hot meals today, but drinks and snacks available in the cafe”, we rode down and found the World Peace Cafe closed, at which we felt not at all peaceful. Back at the road we saw that the paper sign had been taped over the sign proclaiming that the cafe was open Wed to Sun. Luckily there was an excellent cafe in the small village of Millington, we arrived just as a party of ten cyclists were leaving. Their luggage was being transported by van, which is not cycle touring at all.
We crossed the Wolds, which contributed some more substantial gradients to the generally flat terrain, riding along empty roads until we skirted the edge of Driffield. The roads again became eerily but pleasantly deserted as we proceeded steadily eastward against the warm relentless wind, stopping at Burton Agnes Hall’s cafe for refreshments. There were very few people even here, one couple told us how wonderful the house is but it closed at 5pm and it was already 4:15. There was an annoying diversion along the B1253 into Bridlington because of gas main works but the road wasn’t too busy. By now it was very windy and the clouds had quickly spread to blot out the sunshine. We rode through the interesting but run down old town which is some distance from the sea, too tired to stop for photographs, and on to the sea front for the end of the wonderful Way of the Roses route. We’d booked an apartment for the night, we found it and shopped for food at the nearby Tesco then returned to cook dinner.
Day 6 – Bridlington to Scarborough, train back home to Bangor