Our planned ride to the Avon Dam - the most enjoyable and popular ride we ever run - was attended today by just Zac and Michael despite some near perfect weather conditions. Olly's birthday and GCSE revision were the chief causes of the desertion.

Zac loves the Avon Dam too, but as there were only two of us he decided to switch the ride, taking us along Colston Road to the riverside path at Staverton. We ventured into Staverton station and were greeted by the station master as Zac tried to get a milky bar from an antique chocolate vending machine. Zac asked more and more questions and the station master seemed very willing to answer them all. We ended up with Zac pulling some disused levers in the signal box and getting a full commentary on the signal and gate procedures as the 12.20 pulled into the station. Every action by the station master had to be logged in the special book in the signal box to ensure the highest standards of safety.