It didn't take us long to decide to cancel the ride today in view of the appalling weather. Ashmoor was fully booked so we drove to Ivybridge leisure centre and enjoyed games of squash, badminton and basketball for a very reasonable price.

Today was Will's birthday, and when everyone had arrived John produced an enormous chocolate birthday cake that he had secretly brought up the day before. When everyone had eaten a slice or two John generously offered a ten-pin bowling treat for everyone. As we were heading to Plymouth at 7.45 Lawrence sent a message asking if it was too late to come, but nobody saw it. He was really annoyed with himself when he found out next day what he had missed.

We had a great game of bowling, then John and Michael ordered a take-away pizza while the rest played pool. We took the pizza back in the car to eat at Crofters, but someone made the mistake of leaving George in charge of them!

We chose a fairly flat route so that Jack would not be pushed too hard on his first ride. After riding along Colston Road to Staverton Bridge the youngsters had some fun by the riverside. Starverton park provided a second venue for entertainment, this time frisbee contests.

On the way home Will got a puncture near Hole Farm, but this was soon fixed to get us home for 1.30.

We played several extended computer games this evening and rounded off with a movie themes quiz, finishing later than usual at 10.25.

Lawrence arrived late which gave John and Michael a chance to enjoy a coffee. Early showers had given way to a dry morning, so we headed up to Holne via Buckfast and Scoriton. The café at Holne was closed for refurbishment after the recent purchase of the building by the village, but they still let us buy things from the shop and sit on the tables.

Ash was late again and joined us at the café at 12.40. We then returned home via Hembury Woods, arriving home at 1.20 just as a heavy shower was approaching.

Icy roads persuaded us to delay the start by an hour. Everyone seemed to be ill or tired today so we ran a short ride along the old Ashburton road, including a few cycle routes in Ashburton before returning by 1pm.

For a special social this evening we dove to Barbican Leisure at Plymouth and had a really tasty meal at Pizza Hut. There was time for a few games of pool at TenPin before we headed home.

For some reason there was little enthusiasm for a ride today even though we had a good turnout - the forecast of rain seemed too much for some. We drove to Ivybridge leisure centre for a morning of sports fun, catching a fairly heavy spell of rain on the way down. Ash, who was late again, joined us part-way through the proceedings.

We enjoyed a mixture of CoD Ghosts and music quizzes this evening, as nobody felt like going out.