The ride to Bolberry Down was well attended – perhaps the nice weather brought people out. Unfortunately, however, it did not stay quite so nice all day. Ellen and Jeremy Goddard were out for their first ride, and Robert Goddard joined us later in the day. It is nice to have so many cyclists from the same family, and we hope they will come again.

The usual route was taken through Harbertonford and Moreleigh, and we then made our way through Loddiswell, Churchstow and Malborough. We reached Bolberry Down as the clouds began to darken, but luckily the showers held off until after we had eaten. A suitable spot was found some way along the coastal path to eat our lunch. We had a breath-taking view of the coastline and the sea – how lucky we are that the National Trust buys up such land for all to enjoy.

After lunch we dropped down into the village of Hope, where Matthew and Jeremy sampled the delights of cycling on wet sand while the rest of us used the road over the mountain! We took a more devious route homewards via Aveton Gifford, California Cross and Avonwick. The Goddards seemed to be having a spell of bad luck on this particular occasion: Jeremy had come off on a sharp bend in the morning and was luckily unscathed, Robert fell off whilst looking down at his chain and was then ridden over by Ellen, and finally at the end of the ride, Ellen had a near miss when her chain locked in the back spokes! Let us hope they have not been discouraged – let’s face it, things can only get better!

(Michael Jones)

[Attendance verified]
[2 points: Douglas Brownjohn, Colin Downie, Robert Goddard, Philip Wrigley]
[Rider 1 was a member of Bristol DA who was staying at Noss Mayo]