Jude was unwell again today, but Dillan very much liked the idea of a trip to the Exeter Ship Canal, so we quickly bundled the bikes into the car and drove to Starcross. Conditions on the coast were a bit chilly at 6°C but there were occasional breaks in the cloud that let through some glimpses of sunlight.

The ride up the cycle path from Powderham was a little trickier than usual as there seemed to be a lot of cyclists out for a spin today, but the views across the mudflats of the Exe Estuary were spectacular as always. There were far too many people out walking to risk riding on the towpath from Turf Lock, so we stayed down on the cycle path, missing out on the canal views as a result. We joined the canal for the section to the bridges, however, and continued on to the Quayside shops.

For coffee we called in to the Welcome Café, originally started up by Roger Olver who used to run the Primrose Café at Lustleigh. Roger retired a couple of years ago but both rooms in the café were packed with cyclists and walkers. As we sampled the generous portions of apricot flapjack and top-notch coffees, we could well understand why!

We pressed on past the Quayside shops, detoured around the path repairs at Pizza Hut and then carried out our traditional tour of the riverside park up to the railway bridge before returning to Pizza Hut for one of the best veggie pizzas we have ever tasted – and with a 41% discount as well using a code we happened to receive this morning.

Fed and watered we returned via the other side of the quay, where shops like the Craft Cellar and the Coffee Cellar vied for passing trade. A speedy ride back to Starcross brought us back to the car for 3.15 after a thoroughly enjoyable day.

As the day started very cold we had a social at Crofters during the morning and set off just before 1.00 for our snow-hunting ride. We rode past Buckfast Abbey and on up to Scoriton, where our favourite dog Leo was outside waiting to greet us.

When we arrived at Holne we were hungry so decided to go to the café before continuing up to the open moor, but when we arrived at 1.45 we quickly discovered that the café was closed for redecorating. We had to make do with what little there was in the shop - chilli crackers and wrapped caramel shortbread. We set off again at 2.08 and rode up the steep hill to Venford Reservoir, getting a short spell of rain on the way up. There was a fair amount of snow lying around at the top, exactly as we had hoped, so we enjoyed 45-minutes of snowball fights and snowman-construction.

We returned home via Hembury with cold fingers and feet, although conditions got warmer on the descent, arriving back by 3.25. Everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Jude, Dillan and Michael rode along Colston Road to Dartington, then on to Morrisons along the cycle path via Borough Park. We had refreshments in the café, then bought a pack of five doughnuts to share and one Mega Doughnut each, as we had never tried them before.

We were running a bit late now, so we went home along the path from Brutus Bridge and then via Staverton Bridge and Caddaford, getting back for around 1.45.