Pints & Pounds

After a night of sampling the 'real' Guinness, the riders will head north through the green Irish countryside, crossing what once was one of the world's most guarded borders between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. A rest day in Belfast will give the cyclists a chance to enjoy the legendary Irish Craic and a shot or two of Bushmill's Irish Whiskey in some of the city's fabled bars. The next day a ferry will take the riders across the Irish Sea to Scotland, home of some of the world's finest single malt whiskies, and a rest day in historic Edinburgh.

Here the participants can relive the antics of the city's most famous fictional detective, John Rebus, by enjoying a pint of Deuchars IPA in The Oxford Bar. The riders' route now takes them south and through the small towns and shires or rural England. The next rest day will allow the riders to explore some of the country's most fascinating medieval architecture - the walled city of York. The last stretch takes the cyclists through the fabled university city of Cambridge before cycling into London past Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Tower Bridge. This cosmopolitan city marks the end of this amazing section.