In 1961, the family arranged a holiday in Holford, Somerset and Malcolm and his brother Stewart decided to cycle there but their parents went down by car taking Granny Smith with them. The boys set off a day before the rest of the family, stopping overnight in Salisbury and staying in a YMCA hostel. They completed the 140 mile journey to the Coombe House Hotel the following day.

They then spent the following week pottering about with the family but also took cycle rides locally. One day they cycled to Minehead and back, a journey of 30 miles. The hotel was reputed to be haunted so Malcolm decided to play a trick on his brother by hiding in their room then jumping out of the wardrobe cupboard. Having hidden away, and on hearing the room door open and footsteps coming, he jumped out with a shout only to alarm the chambermaid who had come in to turn down the beds.

The family went down to the beach at Kilve a few times. It was a rocky beach with large areas of soft purple mud so swimming was difficult. The boys got covered in mud and if they let it dry they became quite camaflauged against the rocks.

For their journey home, the boys decided to come back along to coast, so started by cycling southwards to Lyme Regis where they stayed in the YMCA on their first night. From there, they followed the coastline to Weymouth for their next overnight stop then on to the Isle of Wight. Their journey along the coast had been in bright sunshine the entire time, consequently they were sunburned on their right-hand sides and still white on the left. The last leg of their journey was home via Portsmouth, but that day had torrential rain with thunder. Several days later, Malcolm developed a boil on his backside from contact with the bicycle saddle.