Harry brought his two friends Luke and Jack along with him today, meeting us at the Chudleigh Bridge pick-up.

The plan was to get to the destination for lunch, but as we neared the Christow BMX track it became obvious that we would have to drop in for some cycling fun. Once there we met up with some of the local youngsters that we had met on our last visit, so we ended up staying there for one hour and lunch.

Ken, who attempted an early return home, was punished with a puncture (you just can’t rely on these shopping bikes for serious cycling) but Ben stayed with us as we rode the tracks through Cod Wood from Steps Bridge - very enjoyable today in the dappled sunlight. Alex and Ben had a minor crash along the way, but there was no damage.

The second track through Hitchcombe Wood was rougher but tremendous fun. Eventually we emerged at Fingle Bridge and set about climbing our third path of the day, the Hunter’s Path. It was during the long descent that we nearly bumped into Dave Humphreys, one of our Paignton members who hasn’t been out cycling for a very long time.

When Luke had finished playing with his burst drink can at the Chagford stores, he and his two friends decided to ride back to Jack’s house at Moretonhampstead while the rest of us began the long haul back to Buckfastleigh and Totnes.

This was a day when we could have made good use of the burger van at Hound Tor, so of course this was the day that it wasn’t there. It was also the day that we could have done without any further incidents, but that was not to be.

It was during the descent of Ausewell hill that we encountered the two mounted horses riding in the same direction. Michael slowed the group down, told them to ride single file and cautiously overtook the horses on the right-hand side of the road when he felt sure the riders knew we were there, giving them a very wide berth. Toby followed close behind, but as they went past one of the horses shied. The rest of the group very sensibly stopped behind the horses, and Michael and Toby, who were already beyond the point of no return, continued down the hill to remove the object of the horses’ fears.

A following motorist (presumably an equestrian enthusiast) chose to see the incident very differently, however, and worked himself up into a fuming rage within five seconds: it took Michael (and the gentleman’s wife) several minutes of calm responses to convince him that we were not, in fact, an irresponsible bunch of hooligans. Fortunately nobody was injured, but the incident serves as a reminder that you can never be too careful with horses - and irate motorists!

We finally arrived home at 5.30 after a thoroughly enjoyable but physically demanding ride.