Glorious summer sunshine blessed one of our favourite rides of the year, to the heart of the South Moor and the isolated Redlake Tramway. It's not exactly a long ride, so we felt we had the time to call in at the South Brent cafe for cold drinks and teacakes. When Tao had eventually worked out that the shop marked Newsagent was not the best place to buy his lunch, we proceeded at a leisurely pace to Wrangaton golf course. We all noticed the pair of golfers stop what they were doing and turn to face us as we cycled towards them. The look became even more fixed the closer we got, so we knew they were brewing up for a complaint. Apparently we were cycling 3 metres too far to the left - we were on the "fairway" and not the marked bridle path! To be honest it all looked pretty much the same to us, being a moorland golf course. Still, being obliging people we did as we were asked - and then found that the path itself crossed the "fairway" a few metres farther along!

The climb up Ugborough Beacon was tough in the mid-day heat, but the wind was fresher on top and the views were absolutely stunning: from the rocky tor on top of the Beacon we could see the coast from Plymouth right around to Teignmouth, and all the land was laid out in front of us like a map. An enjoyable lunchtime was followed by a truly adventurous ride across open moorland to the Tramway and on for several miles to the point near Redlake itself. There was no hurry, and so plenty of time for Michael and Oliver to try out their digital cameras. This was primarily to augment the new photo galleries recently added to the club's web site, but Tao seemed to think it was for his own personal album as he maneuvered skilfully down a steep slope past the grazing cattle.

Having crossed another section of open moorland through knee-high moor grass interspersed with cotton grass, we proceeded falteringly down the rough slope to the warm and sheltered valley of the river Avon. From here, the narrow path wound its way downstream towards the Avon Dam and our familiar route home along the Abbots Way. So ended another exhilarating summer adventure.

This was officially recognised as the hottest day of the year so far - and we certainly knew it. We were late starting as a result of another of Luke's famous punctures, but we didn't seriously contemplate shortening the ride as Lannacombe is a superbly unspoilt beach and we wanted to push ourselves in preparation for the tour. Our route through Rattery, Moreleigh and Chillington took us past no shops whatsoever, so Tao was unable to buy lunch and Oliver was unable to replenish his water supply.

We found a peaceful grassy spot above the rocks at Lannacombe for lunch that commanded panoramic views of the beach, sea and rock pools. There was time for a climbing expedition right down to the sea, but eventually we had to set off for the arduous journey home in conditions that could only be described as sub-tropical. We were aiming initially for Torcross, where we knew we could buy drinks and ice creams. It was nearly 3.45 before we were ready to leave again, and with another choice of routes we again chose the more strenuous, through Totnes, because it avoided retracing any of our outward path.

The heat and strain began to show, but we persevered and after yet another puncture for Michael finally arrived home at around 6.25. We all knew we had endured a tough ride, but after showers and a meal we felt that wonderful feeling of fit healthiness that only cyclists can experience.