The last day of the tour is usually a reflective affair, the prospect of its end looming all too large even during the most pleasant day’s riding. Nevertheless, Andy and I left Leominster with a healthy appetite for the road ahead undiminished by the third sumptuous ‘full English’ in succession.

Our enthusiasm was dampened within a couple of miles as the hill we began to climb, now once again fully-laden, just kept on climbing. By the time we reached the top above the village of Pencombe, we could discern the Malvern Hills some 10 miles ahead across the upper valley of the Wye, with the previous day’s challenge of Titterstone Clee Hill still visible far to the north.

Beyond the Wye, the land rose more gently before depositing us at Ledbury for coffee and cake. Passing the southern edge of the Malverns, we found ourselves with a gentle descent to the Severn, which we crossed in time to seek out the charms of the Red Lion. This pub, which sits under a cliff on a bend in the river, was flooded in 2007 and back in business within six weeks. Unfortunately for the touring cyclist who stops there, the road immediately climbs at 1 in 6 over the hill behind.

Coming so soon after a lunch of liver and bacon casserole with a couple of pints of a local ale, this climb was taxing. Luckily, it was short, unlike what proved the hardest ascent of the tour. Steering a course through the unattractive area between Gloucester and Cheltenham, we found the road to Great Witcombe and then Birdlip, which sits on the summit. About the only good thing to be said about it was that it left us with a mainly downhill ride across the Cotswolds to Cirencester, the last few miles taking us along the pretty Duntisbourne and its various soft-coloured villages before leaving us on the outskirts of a suitably quiet Cirencester and a pleasant end to a great 300 mile autumn tour.