We had advertised a Dartmoor ride today, and settled on the Avon Dam at the start. It was superbly sunny but chilly at 8 degrees. Callum started fine but slowed to a crawl up Nurston hill – he had been playing a game with his Dad until 1am, and hadn’t had any breakfast as he got up late! Ash suggested shortening the ride to Skerraton but Michael encouraged everyone to continue to the planned destination.

It was 12.05 when we were descending towards Shipley Bridge where Callum and Ash got ice creams. From then on Callum was much faster, taking the lead on the path up to the dam. We didn’t stop at the reservoir other than to take a photograph, pressing right on over the moor – Callum said off-road is his speciality! The views from the top were superb and we got home by 1.30, which was amazing considering how far behind schedule we had been at Shipley.

There was a games social after the ride until 3.15 which mainly involved playing Halo on the Xbox 360, although Michael did also use the time to transfer a rack from the little Trek to Jack’s bike in preparation for next week’s tour.