Those Easter Tour participants who decided to repeat their trip to Golant were very pleased with the weather conditions, which were much better than the April visit. The route was similar for the morning and part of the afternoon, taking in Portwrinkle and Seaton before enjoying lunch at Milendreath beach and refreshments at Looe. After the climb out of Looe we realised that we had plenty of time in hand (because of the early start at Plymouth) so we diverted through Talland Bay and then took the coastal path to Polperro - another all-new experience for us which turned out to be great fun. We paid the price for our detour with a stiff climb, but it was definitely worth the effort.

We arrived at the hostel in reasonable time for supper (for a change), and were entertained for the rest of the evening by Richard and Toby, demonstrating their newly-acquired juggling skills in our attic dormitory.

There was more good weather in the morning, but our route was not to be quite as scenic as that of the outward journey. We had an appointment with Plymouth Section members near Darite on the southern fringe of Bodmin Moor for lunch, so the morning was spent riding along mainish roads through Lostwithiel - and patching up poor Tao who got caught up with Matthew HW during an overtaking stint and then steered his brand new mountain bike right across the main road before abandoning it and landing on the tarmac. The explanation for this strange behaviour came when the bike was inspected afterwards: the handlebar stem locking bolt was loose, and the wheel had moved out of alignment by nearly 90° during the impact with Matthew! There was no serious harm done to either bike or rider, but the incident should serve as a reminder to all members not to trust a bike just because it is new: check it over yourself before you ride it.

We arrived first at the meeting place (to our surprise), and were half-way through our lunches when the Plymouth bunch arrived. Having nearly doubled our numbers we continued along an interesting wooded route back to Plymouth, pausing for more than half an hour by the river near Pillaton for watery games. Martin entertained us by waterlogging his wheel bearings while Marcus (from Plymouth) waded through the water in pursuit of some rather large balloons acquired by his friend Steven.

Kevin took full responsibility for leading us through Plymouth to the rail station in time for our 5.30 train. Things went fine until we had crossed the Tamar Bridge (quite an experience in itself). We then spent nearly an hour riding non-stop to the station, and nearly missed the train. Michael thought it shouldn't have taken anywhere near as long (he had banked on half an hour, which would have given him time to buy a pizza), so he checked the map when he got home, only to discover just what a long-winded, devious route Kevin had selected for us. Unbeknown to Michael, Kevin was also checking his map and coming to the same, guilty conclusion! We didn't complain, though, as we had all enjoyed a superb weekend break.