Our plans for an easy introductory ride for two prospective new members had to be abandoned when they were forced to cancel at the last minute, so after some discussion we decided to make the most of the good weather with a longer ride to Bovey Tracey. On arrival the youngsters wanted a café stop but the Brookside Tearooms seemed to have increased its prices yet again, making them virtually unaffordable. We relocated to the Craft tearooms down the road and found things much more reasonable there, although there was still a large bill at the end as the food was so tempting.

We popped into the local Spar to get some sandwiches for lunch, then rode through the park to the old railway cycle path known now as the Wrey Valley Trail. Here Michael was surprised to discover that the bridge at the far end that had been missing for years had now been replaced so that the path could continue much further towards Lustleigh. This was apparently only completed last year.

Riding along the path into Lustleigh village we found ourselves being told off by an irate woman with a dog. Apparently she had seen us coming and had brought her dog under control for us as we rode past: none of us had noticed this, but apparently we were very rude for not thanking her and she wasn’t going to accept that we genuinely hadn’t seen her do anything. Oh well, there are some people you just cannot please.

Google Maps really wanted us to take a different route home but Michael had his mind set on the very steep climb through Lustleigh Cleave so that is the way we went. We stopped on a grassy verge near the top to eat our sandwiches, then continued on past the clapper bridge over the River Bovey where some trial bikes had left a lot of mud on the road. After some steep climbs we then took the Hayne Down road past Bowerman’s Nose, a stack of granite rocks that looks remarkably like a man’s face.

After some ice creams at Hound Tor we continued home via Cold East Cross, saying farewell to Jude at Hemsworthy Gate as he returned to his own home at Ilsington via Haytor.

We hope Jake and Tom will be able to join us on a ride soon.