No one else turned out, so Richard used the opportunity to find roads he hadn't ridden before, ending up in Ivybridge.

A total of sixteen riders set off from Marldon including, for the very first time, the entire Twydell tribe (all 8 of them) and all four of the Walker family. This shows a definite trend towards family cycling - let's see more of it.

As our speed was limited we took the most direct route through Compton and then back roads from Park Hill service station to East and then West Ogwell. There was a track short-cut taken by the hardier souls with varying degrees of muddiness. Dave Robinson showed us the way with a sensible tourer (ie with mudguards) that negotiated the track easily and left him his usual picture of sartorial elegance.

At West Ogwell we met Michael et al. It was obvious that an extended ride would not be practical with all the youngsters. We put a brave face on it and went straight to the Pick 'n' Park café, which was excellent as ever, and then home.

Of particular note was the efforts of Ben Hobday (just turned 7) who completed all the ride on his single gear 16 inch wheel BMX bike that has nylon bushes where our bikes tend to have ball bearings.

Today's ride was shortened to an excursion around Rattery and lunch at Crofters, by popular consent - what are these cyclists coming to these days?

A pleasant evening was spent in Plymouth Road, watching the most recent offering from the original Star Trek cast.

Everyone had earned their lunch by the time they reached Leusdon Lodge at 1.20pm: the air was cold and the climb from Bickington to Haytor and Cold East Cross had been tough on the younger riders. Once again we had more than forty members wishing to attend, but we didn't have to turn anybody away because several were down with colds on the day.

The occasion was thoroughly enjoyable as always, with 38 excellent meals prepared by the staff of Leusdon Lodge, followed by the presentation of awards and certificates. The ride was finished off with a ramble along Dr Blackall's drive.

We could have been on time at Avonwick but Dave for some reason was wandering about looking in shop windows at Totnes without a care in the world. Ken, although ride leader for the day, felt it disrespectful to say "come on, time to go" to someone who is, well let's face it, older. Anyway when Ken did eventually mention the fact that fifteen minutes to get to Avonwick might be insufficient it turned out that Dave had thought that we were waiting for the Buckfastleigh lot to arrive - hence his lack of urgency.

In the event we weren't too late and, greetings exchanged, we set off towards Warren Point. Riding towards California Cross Michael noticed a huge lake of surface water on the inside half of a right hand bend, close to Graffiti House. It didn't appear to be affecting him as he rounded the bend, but just then a car came around the corner from the other direction. The driver was going so fast that he couldn't slow down to avoid the lake, and Michael's presence on the offside meant that the driver couldn't swerve. So he went right through the middle, drenching Michael in dirty, foul-smelling water. Michael wasn't amused, but everyone else was!

In view of the poor weather it was decided to shorten the ride and have coffee at Avon Mill garden centre cafe. Unfortunately it had closed for the winter the day before! A particularly unpleasant downpour while we were eating lunch dampened the enthusiasm of even the most hardy participants (sheltering under a cafe doorway is not a lot of fun) so we headed back to Totnes along a different route.

The ride back was memorable for two things: Neil and Martin fell out quite seriously after horse-play got out of hand (again!!) and Dave had a puncture which Ken repaired - Dave may be an engineer but Ken is a father of six!

At Totnes we had to make do with the smoke-laden atmosphere of the Riverside cafe where the serving lady abused Ken for some earlier (imagined) indiscretion. Ken denied ever having seen the woman before - but he would, wouldn't he!!

By now the weather had finally cleared up and we went our respective ways home.

Richard took on the role of interviewer this year for our annual videotape of Section members. The evening included mince pies, ice cream, Risk, computer games and a special guest appearance from Luke Rake.

Julie was waiting at Buckfastleigh to tell us that Ken was on his way on the tandem, but when they arrived the cold had proved too much for Paul and so they turned back. We had had several heavy showers, including some hail, before the start, so we were a little anxious about how the day would turn out. We first headed past Tao's house so he could pick up some gloves: it wasn't a day for bare hands.

Arriving at the turning for Scoriton Richard and Paul took the easier way, while all the others went straight on to pit themselves against the steeper route to Holne. Richard should have known better: as soon as you split up, things go wrong. This time it was a careless driver pulling out of his drive and knocking Paul off. Fortunately the damage was only minor and we were not far from his house, so it didn't take too long to get him home.

The others had their lunch and we decided, with the late start and the additional delay, that Grimspound was out as a destination. We cruised over to Spitchwick and tackled the climb up to Buckland. A brief break here, and on to Ponsworthy Splash. Just before this Richard realised he had left his new stainless steel vacuum flask back at Buckland. The others went on to whizz down Dr Blackall's drive while he went back to see if it was still there: it wasn't.

We met up again at New Bridge, said goodbye to Martin at the top of the hill, and returned via Hembury Woods.

The forecasters had issued storm warnings for the night before: was it this or the nine o'clock start that kept everyone else at home? Simon and Richard had a good tail wind to get them to Chudleigh Bridge, but there was no one there either. We went up past Canonteign Falls and climbed over the ridge to the reservoirs, regretting our lack of recent exercise. We paused on the way to Blackingstone to admire the snow on the higher moorland. By the time we clambered to the top the view was obscured by approaching rainclouds, so we had a quick lunch in the lee of the rock, picking a spot amidst the last vestiges of the snow.

The rain held off as we made our way through Hennock to Bovey. So far we had only had the odd shower, but now it set in steadily. The helpful wind of the morning was in our faces and we made a rather dour and damp return to Buckfastleigh. We considered joining the afternoon ride, but as we'd clearly had the best of the day's weather we decided against it.

The forecasters had got it right again - rain, rain and more rain. However as Ken had to be at the pick up point as ride leader, he saw no reason why Ben and Paul should not suffer as well. What is amazing is that the male Walkers decided to turn up as well.

Our party of six set off towards Westerland but had to wait for Paul who had already had enough and was insisting on a return home. However the threat of Julie's wrath when he got home gave him new heart and we started again.

The weather got worse as we went through the lovely (and soon to be made into a by-pass) Westerland valley, so we decided to cut back towards home. On the way there was a 'lush' off-road section that the Boys enjoyed to the full - suddenly the rain didn't seem to matter!

A swift return to Ken's house followed by hot chocolate all round prematurely ended the day - could have been better but at least we made the effort.