Dillan was not up to his usual fitness today but he dragged himself out of bed for the ride so that he wouldn't miss the social on Friday. As things turned out he was very glad he did, as he felt much better once we started cycling.

With the weather being a little dull we decided that today would be an excellent opportunity to visit Haldon Forest Park. After travelling up in two cars we rode the easy track first by way of change, then planned to have lunch before tackling the red track. Unfortunately the park was so packed with visitors today that the queues for the single café were horrendous and the delay for hot food even worse. We placated the youngsters with the promise of something hot later, made do with a couple of cold items and then tackled the main ride of the day.

The track seemed to have been diverted in several places since our last visit. For example, the bridged gully where Ash came off last time was not on the route now. Ash was using his new Go-Pro helmet cam today so if anything went wrong it would all be recorded. The final section of the route was closed off for reasons initially unknown: a few of us tried it, crossing an increasing number of fallen trees along the way, but soon we came to a huge area of fallen trees that was totally impassable, so we returned to John on the alternative blue route feeling a little stupid.

To finish a fun day in style we visited the Route 5 services restaurant on Haldon Hill where everyone enjoyed American-style burgers and (in some cases) vegetarian breakfasts.