Our brand new car-assisted ride to Hamel Down started at the Bonehill car park with a bit of a crisis: a sheep had got itself stuck between a stone wall and a wire fence, and no amount of struggling could get it free. Well sheep do these things regularly of course, but the boys wanted something done. While Michael was working out how to lift it without getting covered in the excrement that was hanging off its rear end, a local man came along, lifted it away from its trap and carried it off down the field!

The track from Bonehill to Natsworthy was fun and downhill, but Michael had miscalculated slightly: it came out half way down the hill from Hamel Down, and the lads were not too happy about having to climb up to the gateway that led to the moorland track!

We eventually arrived, took a short refreshment break whilst chatting to some nearby walkers, and then set off up the hill. It was a fun climb, and even though it was a bit steep in places both lads rode nearly all of it. Near the top we found the memorial stone to the RAF plane that crashed in the Second World War. All the crew were killed and the stone carried the initials of each person that died.

The original plan was to ride the track along the top of Hamel Down, but we were later than planned and the boys wanted to enjoy the downhill and the cafe at Widecombe, so we decided to do the top track on our next visit. We sped back down the track to the road, then enjoyed the long downhill through Natsworthy and had lunch at the Green cafe in Widecombe.

To conclude an excellent ride we climbed Bonehill to reach the car by early afternoon.