Across the UK, today was nearly the warmest February day on record, although down here in Devon, temperatures only reached around 11 degrees. We decided to go towards Bovey Tracey as we left, as we have not been there for a while. Jude would have liked to go via a different route, but we had little choice other than the usual route via Bickington and Blackpool. We went to the café at the Craft Centre for refreshments, looking at the various pieces of carpet on the wall priced at upwards of £3500.

After a quick visit to the coop where we forgot to get a bottle of water, Jude left us on the Brimley road to ride home to Ilsington so Dillan and Michael took a new route back through Lounston that took us past one of Michael’s customers. This involved climbing a very steep hill during which time Dillan was almost dying of thirst, but we managed to get to Ashburton where we were able to buy a bottle of water from the Spar before heading home for around 2.30.

We set off at around 10.40. The weather was a bit chilly with occasional showers and longer sunny periods, although a rain shower was just finishing as we left. We decided to do the ride planned for last week, to the new café at Harbertonford, so we followed the Google route precisely, up Dean Hill, through Rattery and across the Totnes Road. There was an interesting sign outside a farm near Tigley: “Alpaca Poo £1”. We wondered how much you got for your £1, and whether it was bagged up or you had to bring a shovel and a sack!

The route took us through Harberton for the first time in ages, and through the twisty lanes above and below the church. Dillan went to look at cakes for sale in a hole in the wall, but it turned out there was only one cake available. Both lads thought the village was expensive but nice, and Dillan liked the slate wall to the left of the road near the cake hole.

A dark cloud was chasing us as we rode the final mile to the café, and sadly it overtook us and sprinkled us nicely before we could park up and get inside. The Nkuku Lifestyle Store and Café was an interesting place with lots of unusual items for sale, but we headed straight for the café which was smaller than we had imagined from the photos. The cakes looked good, but they were ridiculously overpriced - £3 for the burned Pain au Raisin that I had was way too expensive, although it did look nice and tasted pretty good in the middle. Dillan’s £3.50 carrot cake was very moist, however, and he loved it. Coffees were £2.80, or £3.40 for the “large” which Michael ordered, but he swapped the order back to the standard size when he discovered the cups were still the same small size for the larger ones - they just had 2 espressos instead of one, and consequently less milk. The café was all wooden and brown and rustic, so a pleasant place to stop, although we couldn’t help laughing at the salt and pepper tray which was simply a couple of dents in a wooden block, leaving the salt and pepper to collect dust and whatever else it wanted from the environment. There were also two carved wooden salt spoons that were way too thick to pick up any salt.

We browsed around the shop afterwards, the sun now out, took some photos upstairs and found a few interesting if expensive items for sale such as a marble chopping board, a wooden stapler (well just a metal stapler mechanism encased in a pair of wooden blocks) and some wooden toys. The place was definitely worth the visit, and as Jude said, it was unusual to find such a place in the middle of nowhere.

We left there around 12.40 in bright sunshine and rode down past the garage to the shop, where Jude bought some lunch and Dillan and Michael bought a half price veggie pizza for £1.65 which was enough for two. We ate it by the river, where there were now some copper-topped tables for our pleasure. It was a lovely spot for a picnic.

Jude fancied returning via Dartington as he likes it around there, so we took the lane up past the memorial and down into Totnes. On the way down we found Leechwell Lane and followed it to the Leech Well, which Michael had not visited for many years: The lads didn’t seem to think it was particularly special, but they did want to know what it was used for, and it was unusual.
We rode down the main street since the boys wanted to buy some sweets, but the sweep shop was closed until 2 with a sign saying “Gone for lunch”, so we took the riverside path and followed it back to Dartington, stopping to look at the river that was in full flood with both turbines working. We stopped again a little later so that Dillan could clamber up the bank to see what was beyond the fence at the top – it was just a field as it happened.

In Dartington we called in to the Food Shop to buy three tasty-looking flapjacks that were well priced at 99p - Jude ate half of his there and then. We left there around 3.25 and headed home via the cycle path and Colston Road. We stopped to eat the remainder of our flapjacks at the top of the steep hill (Cumming Farm), at which point Jude headed off to meet his mum at the garage as it was 2.59 and he had to be collected by 3. Dillan and Michael meandered home at a slower pace, enjoying the lovely sunny weather and getting back by 3.25.