Today’s ride started fine but turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Ash’s tyre was flat at the start and would not respond to pumping. We took the steep track to Five Lanes from Dart Bridge and Michael attempted a repair part-way up. Unfortunately there was no hole, so the problem was in the valve. When pumping it again at the top of the track the valve burst open rendering the tube useless, and on this particular occasion nobody had a spare tube!

Michael called Gavin for car assistance and we met him on the way down Green Lane. We all went home and enjoyed a computer games social where Call of Duty 4 was the game of choice.

We took the car to the B&Q car park at Plympton and rode all the way up the Plym Valley cycleway, stopping at the first viaduct to observe the Peregrine Falcons on the nearby cliffs from the provided binoculars – the birds were clearly visible today. When we returned the youngsters insisted we went to Pizza Hut to get take-away pizza before we returned home for 2pm.

Zac stayed for a games social after the ride, playing Call of Duty 4 with Michael and Ash.

The drizzly afternoon had turned into a dry evening, but unfortunately Ryan had been unable to get transport down and back from Holne with both him AND his bike. Reluctantly we changed the ride to a cinema social and drove to Vue cinema in Plymouth to watch the 7.30 showing of Terminator 4, which proved to be very enjoyable.

We saw loads of motorbikes on the back road to Ashburton this morning – maybe they were part of the rally that was taking place today.

We rode past Belford Mill and took the woodland track back to Ashburton, resting on the fallen tree for photographs. We concluded an enjoyable ride by taking the scenic Terrace Walk and then returning along the old road by 12.30.

Ash had injured his finger on the trampoline, so we decided to run a games and videos social at Crofters this evening.

Ash was at home for a while this morning for Father’s Day, but he met Ryan and Michael at Cross Furzes at 11.10 and then joined us for a fast ride over the moor from Lud Gate to Chalk Ford. On the way down we saw around ten deer in the deer park.

After photos near the footbridge at Chalk Ford we took the stony track to Scoriton and then the lanes home via Hawson Court.

Michael had to cancel this evening's ride as a result of other commitments, but only Matt had been available to join the ride in any event, and since he said he would be coming Sunday it wasn't really a problem.

The forecast of cloudy but dry almost persuaded us to do a car-assisted ride to Exeter today, but when Zac pointed out that Matt only had ₤1.50 we switched to a local ride. This turned out to have been a good decision: by the time we reached Michelcombe an unpleasant spell of rain was settling in. Michael's assurances that it would be sure to stop soon didn't carry much weight with the youngsters, but we nevertheless continued to Holne and used the cafe there until 12.45 which made everyone feel better.

It was dry now, but Michael still had to put a good case to encourage them to take the track to the park rather than the shorter route home via Hembury. They enjoyed the track of course, so it was the right choice, but then we made a big mistake.

In years gone by we had often taken the shortcut from RDCP back to Buckfastleigh through Hembury Woods, and whilst it had been getting more like an obstacle course each year we decided to try it again today. Whatever it might have been like in the past was nothing to the problems we encountered today. First there were the great piles of earth, presumably put there by the park to make the path impassable. We got past those, then had to tackle the brambles and undergrowth in several places. After the fallen logs that crossed the path we then found that the usual path was now impassable to the cave, even by the secondary path behind, as a result of neck-high growth of brambles and other vegetation!

To get to an alternative route we had to cross the small river, and as there was no longer any easy crossing this meant wading across - just inconvenient, as it wasn't deep at all. Even the alternative path had huge tree trunks that had to be negotiated and two small streams to cross on rather wobbly stepping stones. To get back to the old path we had to climb a steep bank, and once there we were still unable to get to the little cave that Michael wanted to show everyone. The remainder of the path into Hembury was only blocked by the same old tree trunks that had been there for years, but by the time we emerged onto rideable tracks we were scratched and tired and it was way too late.

We'll give this track a miss from now on, since the owners have clearly gone to huge lengths to prevent our enjoyment of this otherwise delightful stretch of woodland.

A short ride that explored the many tracks in Hembury Woods turned into a late return when Ash remembered, half-way home, that he had left his watch by the river. At least they had enjoyed the stone skimming and paddling in the cool waters of the Dart.

We played games until the showers seemed to have stopped, then set off for a ride up Dean Hill. We only got halfway up before the rain started again however, and since Ryan wanted to go back we just headed back down the hill and home.