‘Twas Sunday, wet and windy, and I had promised to take someone sailing. However, putting caution first I turned up at Five Lanes for the Afternoon Run to find five little mortals waiting for me. It being so windy, I decided to ride out into the wind and come back with it.

Off we set, out to Berry Pomeroy, then down to Littlehempston and ever upwards towards Landscove. Well, as I said in the beginning, the other riders were all youngsters, and with three of them being fairly new, I thought it best not to go to Landscove but to turn off and make our way to Broadhempston. That was my undoing!

There was this signpost pointing in the direction I wanted to go, saying “Kingston”. As we had never been there before it seemed a good road to try – Simon said it was to the farm only, but I ignored this remark. Down the hill we went and ended up – in the farmyard! Mrs Farmer came out followed by a flock of hens, saying it was a private road and we couldn’t go through. There had been no mention of this fact at the top of the hill, you notice.

We walked back up the hill and from there we went to Landscove. Here they had some pigs which, Richard decided, wanted some grass to eat; I thought they were more likely to eat Richard’s fingers! At this point, I decided to go to Sparkwell, but Simon, having no faith left in my navigational abilities, wasn’t too keen on the idea. After a while, however, when we had gone through Sparkwell and were clearly on the road to Broadhempston, he realised that we weren’t totally lost and returned to his normal happy little self.

It was at Broadhempston that I made my second mistake (that is not including the one I made in turning out in the first place). A “Road Closed” sign was stationed at the junction. Well, it being Sunday and us being on bikes, a decision was made to ignore the sign (besides which it was the shortest way home and three of the boys were getting tired). Up the hill we went, around the corner, down the hill, round the corner …

When one sees a “Road Closed” sign one doesn’t normally expect the road to be actually closed shut. This one was. Lorries, cranes, holes and tar all conspired together to block the road completely. “Perhaps I’ll send one of the youngsters ahead to appeal to the lorry drivers,” I thought. Well done, Richard. Over the tar he went, through the mud and into the farm. Cautiously we followed, but where should we go from there? A word with the lorry driver and we were directed across the farmyard, through a gate, past some cottages and thus back onto the road.

The rest of the way home was boringly uneventful, but we had had quite enough excitement for one day. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves, particularly newcomers Paul Turner and Marcus Haly. Marcus has been looking forward to joining his brother in the club for many months, and now that his bike has arrived, we hope to see him regularly.

(Susan Shepley)

[The attendance list for this event is currently incomplete]