After a quick bite to eat from a local corner shop (no time for a pub lunch on this tour!) we rang at two completely contrasting eight-bell towers, one being a tall sooted up church is a very pleasant setting, the other a small, spired town church in a less than pristine state. Next on the agenda was Emley, somewhere we had rung before, memorable for it's nice ground floor ring and also the nearby Emley Moor 1084ft concrete TV mast. Shelley, back near Huddersfield, was another nice six-bell tower. Ossett was complete change of a scenery being an almost cathedral-sized builing with a substantial tower to accommodate its twevle bells; once we'd found the ringing chamber we stayed for some simple rounds and calls. The last tower of the day before the long drive home was on the other side of Bradford at North Featherstone, a three-bell tower where we were almost the last to ring.

Heading across town to the church of St Nicholas very close to the north Wirral coast, we stopped off for a brief wander along the rather desolate promenade. From the ringing room at St Nicholas there was a great view of the sea too. We had an hour or two to spare before the next tower so we had lunch in Liscard after making a hasty retreat from the first venue we tried in New Brighton. We ate with Brian and Matt, two other local ringers from Padiham, who were also on the tour. With our stomaches filled we were ready for some Cambridge Minor at the small tower of St Oswald, Bidston, quite a light ring of six.

The last couple of towers were futher south down the Wirral peninsula. At Bebington we rang some Plain Bob while others attempted a half course of Superlative. The final stop of the day was at Rock Ferry, where everyone arrived up to half an hour early but the local ringer was late so we had a 45 minute wait. Whilst hanging around, Chris virtually insulted the tour organiser, albeit unintentionally! Another blast of Cambridge and we were on our way back, this time driving through the Birkenhead Tunnel (when we eventually found it) and home via the M62 and Ikea (where Chris had a bad experience with a cactus!).

After our elevensies we drove a couple of miles to Goodmanham, a three-bell tower with a Mallaby frame and apparently quite a rare grab. Rod Bickerton, the tour organsier, was completely gobsmacked at the lack of movement in the frame - he was descending the belfry ladders clad in a boiler suit as we arrived. We raised the bells then continued west to Hayton, another three-beller, where we were first on the scene and had a peek at the newly refurbished bells up three steep flights of stairs. Next stop was at Pocklington though we needed to wait for a wedding to finish before we could ring. Here Alan Birney, a ringer from Whalley whose trips we have been on before, tried to twist our arms about ringing a quarter peal at the final tower of the day! We bought lunch from another bakers while waiting, in vain as it turned out because the bride was 25 minutes late and we had to press on. It was a relief to leave the chaos behind and get back on track at Escrick, a fairly new ring of 13 bells that used to hang in Birmingham, St Martin, where we managed some Plain Hunt Cinques and Maximus.

The remainder of the day was spent in or near York with its abundance of towers. First we were at Bishopthorpe south of the city where we attempted London Minor but it broke down about half way. Fifteen minutes later we parked up at Marygate and had a stroll around York (looking for the toilets!) and popped into another local bakers for supplies. Alan kindly bought us a pint in the Minster Inn over the road from St Olave's, our initial city centre grab. Next we ventured closer to the Minster, where a band was expertly ringing as usual, to ring at St Wilfrid's Catholic church. Here we rang Grandsire Caters and had to leave them stood at backstroke which we all managed first time! Nipping over the river we rang a All Saints, North Street and should have visited the Spurriergate Centre but for the nativity scene being in the way! We drove a few miles north to Huntington, where we rang another course of Yorkshire Major, and ended an enjoyable day just outside the city walls at St Laurence's where we rang up and bid farewell before serious quarter attempts got underway!