Callum came up early this morning with a puncture, but when Michael removed the tube he discovered a hole so tiny that it would have easily lasted all day with a good pump. And the reason he hadn’t tried pumping it was … he didn’t have a pump! Michael suggested buying a pump might be an urgent priority.

Everyone agreed on a car-assisted ride to Lustleigh today, to make the best use of the good weather. We just managed to find a parking space by the entrance to the railway path at Bovey Tracey at 11.00 despite there being loads of other cars there for a nearby football match, but perhaps we should find a better place in or near the town for a future ride.

We set off up the path at 11.15. The entrance gate was well hidden now by large trees that had grown up over the years. Everyone enjoyed the railway path, and the subsequent lane towards Lustleigh looked great in the morning sunshine. We soon realised however that Callum had another puncture. This time pumping was not going to be satisfactory as it went down again in ten minutes, so we had to carry out a repair. There were two new holes now and Callum was a bit frustrated, but he was fine again once we had fixed it.

We took the interesting path through the centre of the village which brought us to the Primrose Café. Everyone except Jack wanted to go in for refreshments, but he still joined us anyway. It was very pleasant inside, although much quieter than it used to be in the old days. Prices were good, there was a small range of very tasty cakes and Callum was very satisfied with the home made leek and potato soup for £4.95. The proprietor was very impressed to find a boy who liked quality soup. She told us that Roger Olver, the owner of the café in the 1990s, had recently bought the Welcome Inn on Exeter quayside, converted it to the Welcome Café by Easter and was now selling his usual high quality range of cakes there. We decided to go there as soon as possible.

We took the lane past Ellimore that includes a very steep climb at the end, then proceeded up to the Cleave where we followed the path into the woods. Michael offered a prize to the first person who could spot the cave: Ash climbed a tree and spotted it, although it actually turned out to be more of an overhanging rock than a cave.

After some running-around fun we were surprised to find that Callum was up for extending the ride to the top of the hill, so we rode on up to Sanduck Cross and down the Mapstone lane back to the village, stopping to look at the massive granite boulder by the side of the lane and again to explore the tunnel where the leat emerged near the café.

Heading back to the railway track we continued to admire the very expensive houses in the area. At Knowle House, however, we noticed that something had changed since the outward journey: the flat platform that we had seen in the garden now had a helicopter on it. Ash or course was very excited about this. We discovered later that the owner runs a helicopter business.

We found two South Dartmoor School youngsters off the side of the railway track practicing BMX-style tricks that looked rather dangerous. After chatting with them briefly we followed the track back alongside the main path and reached the car by 2.35.

We were home by 3.10 after a very successful ride. The youngsters played Minecraft after the ride and were happily planning a beach ride next Sunday and perhaps Plym Valley, Exeter Ship Canal and Haldon Forest in the subsequent weeks.