Stan Ford joined us for our 30th anniversary ride to Dartmoor, and we received several good wishes from ex-members who were unable to be with us. Stan’s trusty Raleigh Randonneur suffered a broken chain on the first climb up the shortcut near Peartree, but Michael got his hands oily to ensure we could proceed up Ausewell Hill with the minimum delay.

We took the unsigned path across Welstor Common to Buckland Beacon, a fire beacon still used to celebrate royal events, and after hauling the bikes over the stile Michael took the group to the pair of granite slabs that together form the Ten Commandments Stones. Most of the group had never seen them before, and in Stan’s case that was not for want of searching. The stones, which were inscribed in 1928, have become somewhat eroded over the years so you really have to know where they are to be sure of finding them.

When we had finished taking in the breath-taking views across Southern Dartmoor Dillan found one letterbox and Will found the other. The boxes don’t seem to contain ink pads and stamps these days, but we left our comments in the books using the pens provided and continued on our way.

Will was ravenously hungry for some reason, so after taking the path down to Cold East Cross we decided against looking for more letterboxes at Bonehill Rocks, instead proceeding down the steep descent to Widecombe. Here we were in for a surprise: the famous Green Café had been gutted and completely refurbished inside by new owners. The old kitchen and serving area was gone, replaced with a new eating area complete with old fireplace; there was a brand new kitchen and serving area on the car-park side; the cloakrooms had been completely rebuilt; and new tables and chairs both inside and out completed the conversion to a café that finally seems appropriate for such a popular tourist village. We enjoyed a range of tasty food from the excellent menu and gave the new proprietor full marks for what must have been a very expensive enterprise.

Next stop was the ice-cream hut in the village which boasted very generous helpings of delicious ice cream topped with clotted cream for just £2.50. Refreshed for the return journey we headed onwards via Ponsworthy at a good speed, diverting through Leusdon in the hope of seeing our favourite white ducks. We were not disappointed: they seemed to have brand new fox-proof quarters next to their refurbished pond, so hopefully they will survive until Christmas at least!

We returned home via Hembury for around 4.10 after a very enjoyable ride. For those who couldn’t make the ride we will be running a 30th anniversary get-together at Christmas.