Tao had come up with a 27-mile route for today’s ride which started by taking us around Ashburton. George had a problem with his rear hub at Bickington which took John and Gavin a few minutes to repair, but we were soon heading on again through Blackpool.

Our first section of off-road involved taking the track through Liverton’s Great Plantation to Heathfield. Tao then took us through some link paths to the Templer Way cycle path, only completed last year as a pleasant cycle route between Bovey Tracey and Newton Abbot. We had all seen the new cycle bridge over the A38 but had never ridden over it.

The route on the Newton Abbot side of the bridge was quiet and leafy all the way, taking us first past the point at Ventiford where the old Granite Tramway from Haytor meets the now disused Stover Canal. It was not hard to imagine the horse-drawn carriages unloading their Haytor granite onto barges for transportation to London.

The MT Tums outdoor café at Teigngrace was closed today but we had other plans for lunch in any event, continuing on to Newton Abbot and taking the cycle routes through to Costa in the town centre. Here we split into three groups, with Tao and Gavin buying lunch at Asda, John and George from Subway and the rest at Costa. We finished off with Asda donuts provided by Michael.

The next stage of Tao’s route involved the track past Bradly Manor which turned rather muddy near the gates and styles. We washed off the worst of the mud in the river and then pressed on up the hill to East Ogwell. The sun was bright and everyone was feeling great so we extended the ride by three miles with a detour through Ipplepen, returning via Staverton by around 4.10. Many thanks to Tao for coming up with such an interesting route, and well done to everyone for completing the ride effortlessly.