We were pleased to welcome Brodie to our third and final Easter Special ride. After Tao loaded the bikes into Michael’s V70 we drove the 45 miles or so to a location in a Tiverton industrial estate that Tao knew from his lorry-driving experiences. When Zac had visited the cashpoint machine outside the closed Tesco store we joined the cycle path along the course of the old Tiverton branch railway from the roundabout. Ironically it was the railway that signalled the end of the canals in the 1850s, but by the 1960s the railways were being taken up as well.

We soon joined the Grand Western Canal, although a bumpy section near a tree caused Michael’s SatNav to jump out of its holder and fall apart. When he reassembled it the top of the stylus had gone missing, so it’s probably time to move to a phone-based SatNav.

The scenery along the canal path was absolutely delightful, with ducks, ducklings and a few barges added into the mix. At Halberton the path led us away from the canal through the village, bypassing a large canal loop that once had a serious leak and was dammed at both ends. As the path cycle path went past the church we were annoyed to see a No Cycling sign!

After re-joining the canal we followed it along the right hand bank to Sampford Peverell. Michael noticed a Spar shop in the village but didn’t think to go there because he assumed everyone had a packed lunch. That turned out to be a flawed assumption.

There were plenty more ducks and moorhens on the canal path past Westleigh. It was when we reached the old lime kilns at Whipcott at 12.30 that Tao and Zac announced that they had no packed lunches. We had no choice but to follow up on a sign that was pointing to a pub and shop at Holcombe Regis. The 1km turned out to be more like a mile and the shop was closed, but Zac and Tao managed to get carveries from the rather inferior pub. Brodie and Ash wanted to eat their lunches by the canal so we returned to the lime kilns and settled down on the conveniently-located seat. Some information boards nearby explained the history of the kilns, and overall it made a very pleasant lunch spot.

It was 1.30 when Tao and Zac re-joined us in the hot afternoon sun. After some discussion we decided to continue to the end of the restored section of the canal at Greenham and then looped back near Thorne St Margaret to the canal. Tao was apparently hoping to return to Tiverton via Bampton, or at least via the roads that followed the canal, but Brodie was quite tired and Tao was out-voted so we returned along the canal.

Whenever we got to a bridge over the canal there was a sign that advised us not to cycle under the bridge as the path got closer to the water. We took the messages into consideration, sometimes walking but mostly riding slowly enough to make sure there were no problems. At one point a woman decided it was her duty to tell us off even though we were not affecting her in any way. “Can’t you READ?!” she snapped. Michael was about to explain our policy but then decided he would be wasting his breath so gave her a rather short reply.

After seeing more ducklings and some mallard drakes raping a duck we stopped at the Spar this time for refreshments. Ash had a puncture at the next village while we were enjoying the duck pond – it was a broken valve, and the ducks ate out of Michael’s hand while the tube was replaced.

As we neared Tiverton we came across the tourist barge being pulled by a magnificent shire horse, a very tranquil scene and a fascinating insight into times gone by. We reached the car by around 4.10 and got home by around 5.35. A games social until 7.30 concluded a great ride that was to be the last of our Easter Specials.