We rode up to Cross Furzes on a lovely sunny evening with a great turnout, and then on to Lud Gate. Ash somehow managed to burst his tube on the moor, and as he didn’t have a spare tube and had two holes the repair took around 15 minutes. This allowed everyone the time to get to know some friendly horses that were watching us from a nearby field.

By the time the tube was repaired the sun was low and it was getting cold – Michael’s fingers were freezing after repairing the tube. Most of the youngsters wanted to go back the way we had come as they were cold and wanted to be sure of enough game time! Ash, however, was determined not to miss out on the downhill to Chalk Ford so he pressed on at high speed and the rest of us went back home via Cross Furzes. Ash was pleased with himself when he arrived just 6 minutes after us, at 9.04.