We all met up at Gappah where we spent some time chatting and admiring Karina's new hat. The main cause of the delay was Martin Hills, who had surpassed his earlier brake problems by getting two punctures on the hill up to Gappah. Eventually, we set off via the lanes to the A380 and thence to the top of Telegraph Hill where we lost Richard Hopper who had to go home.

The rest of us sped down the hill, which was described by Ben as "lush". I can think of other words to describe hurtling down a hill on half a bike led by a rider of 6 months experience with only a vague idea of what brakes are for ...

At the bottom of the hill we crñossed over the dual carriageway and made our way through Kenn to the lanes. We were delayed by Luke Hatherly who, having ridden through some dog mess, wanted to go slowly to avoid spraying himself. (Of course, if he had had a sensible tourer with narrower tyres and mudguards ...)

Meanwhile, the rest of us ran the gauntlet of a large farm dog. We waited up the lane to see how Luke would fare. He eventually appeared at a snail's pace and actually rested against the farm wall by the gate totally unconcerned. The dog did not appear - obviously he was a connoisseur of bikes and couldn't be bothered to chase an Emmelle - I can't blame him!

Later on we met two horse riders complete with dogs. However these were no trouble and one, a stunted Springer Spaniel, was terrified of us.

The final hill to the lunch spot got the better of the Rann trailers and Ken and Julie had to walk. Paul and Ben ran on with the others totally unconcerned about Mum and Dad. However, when they realised that their lunch wñas with the bikes, they did start to look for their long-suffering parents who, having got lost, had tried a number of dead ends each requiring a difficult about turn for the trailers.

After lunch, we went to see if the five pheasants from last year had moved. They had - much to Michael's chagrin, but he consoled himself by picking chestnuts for his tea whilst those of us who waited were bombarded with them as they fell from the trees.

Most of the group including Michael then took a track. The roadies found the pheasants further along the lane.

After we met up again we decided on Dawlish for tea. When we got there we avoided the grotty station cafe and plumped for Peggotty's instead which was excellent.

From Dawlish we all went to Teignmouth, where the Torbay contingent went off home along the coast road whilst the rest of us went home via Newton Abbot.