Only Jack and Callum joined us for the ride today. It was Lawrence’s birthday and we were disappointed not to be able to celebrate it with him.

We followed the original plan of riding to South Brent, and amazingly Callum was actually very fast – he loved the ride and didn’t complain once all day! We called in to the Co-op at South Brent, bought some Belgian buns and cookies and then decided to take the moderate off-road ride to the Avon Dam rather than my proposed extreme off-road route to Ugborough Beacon.

Autumn leaves adorned the route from Gidley Bridge to Shipley Bridge – Callum did so well he was actually leading at one point. There were, predictably, lots of people at Shipley, and as we rode up the path to the reservoir Callum revealed that he had never been here before.

We ate our food by the reservoir and spent a little time walking along the dam for some photographs. Eventually we set off across the moor for home at around 1.20: it turned out to be quite muddy and boggy in places, but there were fabulous views across South Devon from the top of the Abbots Way.

Once we had negotiated the muddy bits near Water Oak Corner everyone enjoyed the final downhill moorland track to Cross Furzes. After a few more photos by the clapper bridge we returned via Wallaford Road for around 2.17. Congratulations to Callum on his best ride for ages.