Michael's "Mystery Ride" was not a total mystery to Ashley, and he really didn't think his sore arm would cope with the rough descent across the moor. Nevertheless once we had climbed up Dean hill and on to Bloody Pool he decided to give it a go. The radio-controlled plane enthusiasts were out again today.

The fine weather had drawn hundreds of people to Shipley Bridge, making cycling past them a little more difficult than usual. Eventually we got to the Avon dam however and settled on its tranquil banks for a chocolate break. A dog dived into the reservoir for a swim while we lay there: we didn't like the idea considering this was our drinking water, but there were no signs around so we couldn't really complain. Hopefully the filtration plant will do its job properly!

Neither Ryan nor Callum had ever ridden the moorland track behind the dam and they were totally stunned by the view from the top of the hill - it is possible to see all the way from Teignmouth to Paignton and beyond from there. And of course they thought the track descent to Cross Furzes along the Abbots Way was "awesome", both of them going on about it long after we had reached home.

In order to avoid some of the debates on recent rides about where we should go, Michael made today's ride a "mystery ride" and everyone found that it made the event much more interesting. Points were offered to anyone who could answer Michael's questions correctly, such as which village we would be going to next, or what special feature would be found around the next corner.

The ride took us up the hill to Pennywell and Rattery. Nobody remembered that there was a viaduct at the bottom of the next hill. We continued on past Blue Post to Diptford village and stopped on the old bridge near the river Avon for refreshments. It was amazing how many fish there were in the river below, and many of them managed to hold stationery position by clever swimming.

Ash remembered the old station building a little further along the road, then there was time to play around the river for a while and spot a few more fish before taking the old cobbled lane through Avonwick. We stopped at South Brent's Plymco for refreshments, headed back towards Buckfastleigh along the back lanes and then, as we were in no hurry, decided to explore the rough track that runs off to the left of the Dean hill decent. Michael knew there was a reason why he hadn't done this for many years, and when the track petered out by a boggy gate and led us into a field he remembered why. We managed to find a gateway that took us back to the road near Dean and vowed not to try that particular detour again.