Heeding the forecast of early morning sunshine I was out and photographing Skipton castle by 5.15am. Drone photography, that is. Took loads of pix; will sort after this train journey to Newcastle.

The forecast was spot on, although I don’t remember any wind warnings and, once in Bradford, got buffeted by strong gusts, not helped by the pannier bags.

Bingley’s old Main Street is historically characterful and it’s also where I saw my first polling station.

Once in Bradford I picked up the protected city-to-city cycleway; this was the first time I’ve used the facility and I was impressed. There was loads of signage, there was short routing around busy four-way junctions and the protection even carried on past the urban motorway that cuts through Leeds. It probably took me about an hour to ride uphill from Bradford and then downhill to Leeds railway station, almost kerb-protected the whole way.

I lost count of the number of “floating” bus stops, the infrastructure that has been so (largely needlessly) controversial in London.

On the downhill stretches of cycleway it’s easy to go very fast so I hope cyclists slow down when they see pedestrians waiting.

The weather has now turned for the worse and I’m taking a literal raincheck on this bike tour around Britain’s best bits.

This winter weather has got to end soon, yes?