New rider Tom had a great bike but had never really used it much, so Staverton seemed like a suitably challenging first-ride destination for him. He seemed surprised that he kept up with us all the way along Colston Road as he had never ridden that far before.

Glorious sunshine turned to a fabulous sunset as we rode beside the River Dart at Staverton and picked our way across to the island for stone skimming. Most of the good skimming stones had already been cast into the river but we managed to find a few small ones that were just about adequate.

Tom was keen to explore the intriguing swamp path to the park, but we needed to get back before 9.30 so that would have to wait for another day. At first Tom was feeling so tired that he walked the hills past Hole Farm, but then he realised he wouldn't actually die if he got out of breath and pushed himself courageously to ride the last few hills back to Buckfastleigh. He seemed to very much enjoy his first excursion and we hope to see him again soon.