A swift climb from the Bickington pick-up brought us to the quarry behind Haytor by midday. Sheltered from the wind the inside of the quarry was warm in the winter sunshine, but we found another sheltered spot for lunch behind Smallacombe Rocks. The problem was, Budgy didn’t see where we went. We sent John up to find him, but then John didn’t come back either! Michael eventually went to find John, but while he spent 10 minutes searching in vain, John and Budgy had found the group by a back route!

The rough descent of the path was fun, although some walkers gave us hard looks as we passed them at the bridge. Peter and William led the way up the other side to the deserted remains of Graetor village, and when we had located the fireplace in one of the foundations we set off for Widecombe’s Wayside cafe, arriving at 2pm.

Luke was most disappointed when he received his scone and cream, because there was nowhere near as much cream as he got last week at the Rising Sun.

Budgie allowed us to play with his aerobie for half an hour at Spitchwick, then we returned home via Hembury Woods where John came off on a sharp corner near the fort. Fortunately there was no damage done.