Arthur had planned to bring his friend Chris today, but in the end his Dad drove off with his bike so he couldn’t come. Olly Acland was also hoping to come, but on this occasion his father had other plans for him. Ash fitted the new saddle and bottle cage to Connor’s bike (the Club’s Trek 3900), Michael reassembled the new pump after it got dismantled on Friday and then we were ready to leave.

We rode up Holne Road and out to Scoriton and Michelcombe, then we were most embarrassed to be overtaken by a woman on a horse on the way up the hill to Holne. Jack had been asking for a longer ride today but when he got to Holne he seemed quite content with a normal length ride, so we set off up the hill to Venford with skylarks hovering and chirping everywhere.

Brodie and Arthur wanted us to ride a track they knew around the outside of the reservoir, but Michael persuaded everyone that the inner path was more scenic and more enjoyable and by the time we reached the other end everyone seemed to agree. There were several walkers on the path today, but unusually they were all very friendly. We stopped halfway around for a short chocolate break from where we were able to soak up the full beauty of the full reservoir set against perfect blue skies.

Ash suggested some tennis ball fun but nobody seemed interested today, so we headed straight back down the hill and over to Hembury. Here we finally rode the downhill Slalom track through the woods: everyone loved it, especially Jack, Arthur, Brodie and Connor who had never ridden it before.

To finish the ride we took the track through the woods to the Hapstead road. Brodie rode right into the water at the bridge, much to Arthur’s horror. There was an electric fence nearby and Connor decided to hold on to it to see if it was electrified: he immediately got a shock, jumped back and ended up on the ground!

We got back at 1.20 and finished with a couple of hours of Modern Warfare 3 on the PCs.