The forecast of cloudy but dry almost persuaded us to do a car-assisted ride to Exeter today, but when Zac pointed out that Matt only had ₤1.50 we switched to a local ride. This turned out to have been a good decision: by the time we reached Michelcombe an unpleasant spell of rain was settling in. Michael's assurances that it would be sure to stop soon didn't carry much weight with the youngsters, but we nevertheless continued to Holne and used the cafe there until 12.45 which made everyone feel better.

It was dry now, but Michael still had to put a good case to encourage them to take the track to the park rather than the shorter route home via Hembury. They enjoyed the track of course, so it was the right choice, but then we made a big mistake.

In years gone by we had often taken the shortcut from RDCP back to Buckfastleigh through Hembury Woods, and whilst it had been getting more like an obstacle course each year we decided to try it again today. Whatever it might have been like in the past was nothing to the problems we encountered today. First there were the great piles of earth, presumably put there by the park to make the path impassable. We got past those, then had to tackle the brambles and undergrowth in several places. After the fallen logs that crossed the path we then found that the usual path was now impassable to the cave, even by the secondary path behind, as a result of neck-high growth of brambles and other vegetation!

To get to an alternative route we had to cross the small river, and as there was no longer any easy crossing this meant wading across - just inconvenient, as it wasn't deep at all. Even the alternative path had huge tree trunks that had to be negotiated and two small streams to cross on rather wobbly stepping stones. To get back to the old path we had to climb a steep bank, and once there we were still unable to get to the little cave that Michael wanted to show everyone. The remainder of the path into Hembury was only blocked by the same old tree trunks that had been there for years, but by the time we emerged onto rideable tracks we were scratched and tired and it was way too late.

We'll give this track a miss from now on, since the owners have clearly gone to huge lengths to prevent our enjoyment of this otherwise delightful stretch of woodland.