Sam got his wish tonight as we returned to Belford Mill near Ashburton. As we passed Ashburton Park we noticed that, for once, it was deserted, so we spent a good fifteen minutes doing jumps on the BMX ramps and, in Olly's case, enjoying the swings.

The woodland track from Belford Mill was a bit muddy after the earlier rain, but everyone really enjoyed it and had no regrets about taking Sam's advice. We returned to Buckfastleigh via Tuckers and the railway track, making sure we got back in time for certain youngsters to enjoy a game!

The climb up Green Lane was made more complicated by a succession of tractors heading down with enormous trailers of grass - we had to keep dashing for passing places to avoid being squashed!

Michael brought the group to the promised downhill track, from Baddaford to Landscove, and they all thoroughly enjoyed the descents through several fields, taking care of course to avoid the rows of grass that the farmer was preparing for collection! Jordan got quite cross with the farmer when he got chased to the gateway at the bottom of the field.

Our route then took us into Landscove. Sam, Olly and Fred are all ex-pupils of Landscove primary school, and when they saw the playing field opposite the school they just couldn't resist the temptation to rediscover the pleasures of playing football there. Michael had some difficulty dragging them all away at 8.30, and when Sam then got some derailleur trouble there was no option but to take the shortest route home, back to Green Lane.

Michael had considered taking some to Haytor by car to ensure that we could complete the ride within a reasonable timescale, but everyone was quite strong enough when we met at the start so we set off together for Ashburton. We were pleased to see Jack Greep returning to club rides after a long break, and also Henry and his mum Jill from Exeter.

The sun was quite hot by the time we reached Bickington, but everyone coped well with the long climb to Haytor, Ashley putting his new hill-climbing skills into practice. There was an ice-cream van at the bottom and top of the hill near Haytor, but both sold only lukewarm drinks - much to Jack's disgust!

When everyone was doing the ten tors had walked up to Haytor and back we rode the short distance to Saddle tor where we settled down for lunch at 1.15. Michael was amazed when Heidi produced a picnic blanket from her bike and settled down on it with Jill - clearly the grass is no longer good enough for some of our members!

There was considerable interest in letter boxes in view of our missed letterbox special a few weeks ago, so our youngsters ran all over the tor finding dozens of boxes in various locations. We collected several stamps and left our own cat stamp in some of the boxes.

Michael took a minor tumble on the descent to the road while waiting for Heidi to walk in front of him, but with no harm done we continued to Hemsworthy gate and walked the short distance up the hill to Top Tor. The ladies settled on the rocks for a lengthy chat while the rest of us found letterboxes left right and centre and walked on to Pil Tor and Hollow Tor to find even more. The youngsters were most impressed with a box at Pil Tor that had an intricate dragon stamp with a gold ink pad. On the way back from Hollow Tor we were greeted by some very friendly dogs, and our youngsters just had to make a fuss of them.

It was now past three o'clock and everyone was getting very thirsty, so we made the decision that six tors and loads of letterboxes would be quite enough for this year's event. Bonehill, our final tor of the day, provided plenty more letterboxes and even a junior letterbox owner who didn't want us to look while he hid his new box!

A brisk and steep downhill brought us quickly to Widecombe where we were very disappointed to discover that the village store was closed! It always used to be open on a Sunday afternoon, but now, according to the sign on the door, it closes at 12! We went to the Green restaurant and ordered multiple drinks and a free glass of water each, enjoying them in the cool of the garden. Fred helped Ashley fill all the water bottles from the back room, but he wasn't very popular when Michael found that his drink tasted remarkably like Tesco Value hand wash!

We took the short route home via Ponsworthy, pausing briefly at the ford to see if anyone could slip off their bike while riding through the water. Ashley tried to emulate Tao's route (from our 1993 rides DVD) and ended up not only coming off but also landing face first in the water - much to everyone's amusement!

Temperatures were much cooler as we descended through Leusdon. Spitchwick was crawling with visitors, more than we had ever seen there before: there was no room for us to ride around, so we quickly moved on to an unobserved rope swing and allowed the youngsters a minute or two each before we pressed on to New Bridge and home.

Fred left us at the top of Holne Chase while the rest of us headed back to Hembury Woods. This was Henry's first attempt at the Slalom track, and he had to admit it was a lot of fun. Ashley seemed to have even more energy at the end of the ride than he had when he started, and Jack had done remarkably well considering he hadn't been out with us for ages. We were all tired when we got home, but everyone agreed it had been a perfect moorland adventure.

We maintained a good speed on this sunny morning ride to Fermoys, travelling out via Caddaford and Staverton. We enjoyed light refreshments in the cafe, at the end of which Heidi kindly presented Michael with a Doctor Who Father's Day card, signed by all the youngsters!

We rode home through Denbury and Broadhempston, stopping briefly at the play park so that Jordan could jump off the fort repeatedly for the camera. Congratulations to new rider Conor for an excellent performance!

With two last minutes cancellations we were down to six for our major summer weekend trip to Tintagel. The weather had been unsettled for weeks but we were hoping that the forecast dry spell on Saturday afternoon would materialise.

Everyone was loaded into our two Volvo estates before 10am but our journey had two interruptions, the first by Charles to refuel his car at Lee Mill and the second by Michael to buy an OS map at Launceston. He couldn't find his own Bude map at home, so had reserved one at Smiths in Launceston and then programmed his Satnav to take us straight to the shop! It worked almost faultlessly, and Olly and Ashley were able to nip out to buy the map in no time at all.

Very heavy showers accompanied our journey, leaving the youngsters rather concerned about the ride, but the rain stopped as we parked and not a drop more fell for the rest of the day! Bearing in mind the forecast for rain tomorrow morning we parked the cars at Langdon, near Canworthy Water and just a few miles from Tintagel.

We took the flat cycle route the three miles to Week St Mary, where we were surprised to see that Wallace and Gromit were in town - the “Anti Pesto” van was parked in the town square! We bought some refreshments in the post office, then, in view of the increasing sunshine, we decided to continue along the cycle route to Bude. We were very careful of course not to tell the youngsters that we were heading away from the hostel!

The route was relatively flat despite dire warnings from a local resident, taking took us along a scenic canal path into Bude. This was the first ever club visit to Bude, and we were greeted by a raft and canoe race on the picturesque canal where many youngsters and the watching crowd were making a great deal of noise.

We bought lunch at the local Post Office, then Ashley demonstrated his local knowledge by leading us all to a grassy bank overlooking the main beach. We ate our lunch there whilst watching a very red gentleman helping his children to build a sandcastle that was taller than himself!

At 2.30 it was definitely time to be heading for Tintagel. We took the coastal road, also part of the cycle route, which proved fairly easy as far as Widemouth Bay but then gave us a few challenges in the form of single arrow and even double arrow climbs. Olly and Ashley were pleased to take a short rest in a little cavern that we found on the side of one of the climbs.

We had thought about visiting Crackington Haven, a popular but secluded beach, but that would have involved another descent and climb that would have been a hill too far for our tired younger riders, so instead we took the main roads to Boscastle, scene of major floods in 2004 and a smaller repeat flood just a few days earlier. The cafe owner seemed pleased to tell us that he was closed at 5.05 even though he could see six of us with money to spend, so we spent our money instead in the local shop buying expensive organic ice creams. Fred bought two flavours in his cone, then managed to let the chocolate part fall to the ground just seconds after taking the first bite! He was so frustrated that he actually scooped up the bits that weren't in contact with the ground!

We had a look at Boscatle youth hostel where the warden showed us photographs of the 2004 flood - rivers could be seen flowing out of the hostel windows! Now it had all been redecorated inside and looked immaculate if a little modern.

The last four miles to Tintagel were hilly, but everyone coped after the rest at Boscastle. As we clocked 30 miles we stopped at the Londis supermarket in Tintagel: it offered a good range of food and drinks, including the special kind of Polos that Fred likes! The sun shone for us as we negotiated the track that leads across the headland, and suddenly there was the hostel, hidden from view until the last, offering spectacular views of the coast from its secluded location.

We had dormitory 1, not our favourite dorm but comfortable nevertheless and offering reasonable sea views. When everyone had showered and beds had been made we set about preparing food in the modern kitchen. There was initial concern about the tap water, which looked more like milk as it came out of the tap, but after being left to settle for a minute or so it turned clear, suggesting the colouration as mainly air bubbles. And speaking of milk, Michael spent considerable time introducing the youngsters to the delights of condensed milk, which he had purchased to go with his tinned raspberries. Everyone tried it, but only Fred was a true convert, finishing off the tin and asking for his membership card for the Condensed Milk Club!

Tintagel castle was the destination for our evening excursion. We parked the bikes at the top of the steep path and walked down to the ruins in the fading evening light. The main ruins on the island were closed but we got a good feel for the scale and history surrounding the place, reputed to be associated with King Arthur. Michael found a very slippery stone near the cove that left him flat on his back in half a second, but there was no harm done and we were soon heading back up to the bikes, disappointed that the land rover service was not operating!

As usual on these weekends Michael had brought his laptop for gaming fun, but the decision of where to play remained to be decided. The kitchen / common room seemed ideal in terms of space, but when Michael suggested this to the warden she seemed more concerned about maintaining peace and quiet for the few adults who were reading there - it seems that youth hostels are no longer primarily for youngsters! So we set up the game in the dormitory and enjoyed 45 minutes of fun before settling down for a quiet night.