New rider Alex kept up an excellent pace along Colston Road and thoroughly enjoyed the Totnes cycle path. As we paused briefly by the weir, a canoe drifted towards us manned by a father and daughter team. They laughed at our suggestion of continuing up the weir but the daughter insisted on getting a taste of the rapids by moving over to the lower edge of the weir. The strong current caught the front of the canoe first, and within a few seconds they were both in the water. The embarrassed father shouted back to us that this was not the way to do it as the unimpressed daughter struggled to the bank and the magnificent heron observed it all from its vantage point on the nearby fence!

We met Dave Robinson at Totnes, out on his first ride for many years, who had arrived early and had been waiting for us for more than an hour. He had to wait a little longer while Ben, Alex and Michael raided Morrisons for lunch, then we set off for the start of the Ashprington track.

This track was recently converted to a cycle path, so the long muddy stretches and steep inclines are now a thing of the past. Autumn leaves were everywhere and we all enjoyed the fabulous views of the Dart and the long descents through the fields. Emerging at Ashprington we detoured through the play park and then headed down the hill to our usual lunch spot by the stepping stones at Tuckenhay creek. We were impressed by the numerous ducks before three noisy but magnificent geese dropped in to join in the fun.

We'd come to see Tuckenhay, so we did a quick ride along the creek to the village and then retraced our steps for the Harbertonford road, a flat valley route that seemed much more inviting than the climb up Corkscrew hill! The village store at Harbertonford was much larger on the inside than it appeared from the outside, with several layers of hidden depths around every corner. Once refreshments had been enjoyed by the river we said goodbye to David and headed off for Diptford, passing Kevin and some of his Torbay Section cohorts along the way.

It was about now that Michael expected Alex to be showing signs of tiredness, but the ten-year-old impressed us all by finding new reserves of energy and powering up the long climb from Rolster Bridge. He continued at that speed all the way home via Rattery, determined not to walk any of the hills. So it was that we got back to Buckfastleigh by 4pm, with plenty of time for computer games to round off an excellent day.