With Andrew, James and Tom representing the primary school this evening we were surprised at the good progress we made through Scoriton, Michelcombe and Holne. This proved to be the wrong evening to go to Spitchwick: the Telethon event had set up shop there, and the whole area was swarming with families preparing to camp there for the night. There was non-stop recorded noise coming from the record player, shattering the tranquillity of the whole valley. Riding along the track route to New Bridge felt more like riding in the centre of a seaside resort than on Dartmoor!

We departed with due haste and returned to Buckfastleigh via the relative peace of Hembury Woods.