We’d all heard the forecast, so the first decision we made was to go to the cafe at Totnes for a drink. During our stay there Michael produced a map showing two cycle routes in the Totnes area proposed by South Hams District Council. It suddenly seemed a much better idea to try out one of these routes than to press on to a certain soaking at Slapton. First, however, we took a look at the new footbridge over the river Dart between Totnes BR station and Totnes Riverside station - a gate across the bridge was firmly locked, so our exploration was cut short!

The Littlehempston route was selected. It began with the track from Bridgetown to Gatcombe, which proved less arduous than we had imagined. At Broadhempston we concluded that the route was fine and diverted to Torbryan where we planned to enjoy lunch on a footpath. That was when the trouble started.

Just as we were closing the gate that led onto the path, a woman drew up in a red car and began shouting at us. It transpired that she lived in the area, was a member of the rambling club and had relatives who owned the land traversed by the path. Evidently she considered it her responsibility to harass anybody she found using the path who wasn’t a member of the rambling club!

We knew the path was a footpath and had planned to push the bikes half way along and then eat our lunch. The woman just didn’t believe us, being absolutely convinced that we were planning to ride as soon as she was out of sight, that we were rude and obnoxious and that we were chauvinists! Michael remained polite and calm throughout, but her only change of tack was to suggest that we had no right to push the bikes either, or to picnic. Clearly she was out to ruin our enjoyment of the countryside.

When Michael offered to bring everyone back she caved in and allowed us to continue, provided we didn’t ride the bikes and didn’t stop for lunch. She waited at the other end to make sure we hadn’t dawdled and to insist that we followed the difficult footpath over the styles and through the fields rather than continuing along the drive of the house. The Devon countryside is full of such pleasant people!

We concluded our ride with yet another visit to the Rising Sun Tea-rooms. It was raining heavily as we left: by the time we reached Buckfastleigh Arthur had decided that riding in the rain wasn’t quite as much fun as he had expected!