The run on the 27th May should have been to Drewsteignton, led by myself, however it didn’t quite turn out that way. At ten past ten when I was about to leave home the heavens opened: it pelted with hail for about ten minutes, and then followed with a good helping of torrential rain. Fortunately, at half past ten the sky cleared again, so I made a mad dash to the pick-up point at Decoy in Newton Abbot. With Colin and Jean in Spain, Phil and family in Sheffield and Robert and family in France, only Michael Jones and John Stuart were there to meet me.

We studied the skies, which were still very threatening, and decided to wander through the lanes towards the refuge of Redmount (Michael’s home) at Buckfastleigh where we could shelter if the worst happened. Amazingly the rain held off all the way there, and in fact the previous showers and the glorious sunshine combined to make the lanes around Staverton, with which we are so familiar, look stunningly beautiful.

We happened to be passing the Hill’s Cider shop in the way (honestly!) so stopped to purchase a bottle to wash down our lunch, which was eaten in the conservatory at Redmount. Here we had a major distraction in the afternoon as Michael decided to show us his “new toy” – a synthesiser. Obviously, we couldn’t leave until we’d tried out all the gadgets and made lots of nice noises.

By four o’clock we decided it would be a good idea to have a cream tea, so we pedalled up to Holne village via Scoriton and enjoyed a very nice tea at the Old Forge cafe. We were entertained by a baby long-eared rabbit who insisted on escaping from the litter in his cage and generally dodging various attempts by the staff to recapture him. Five minutes after his eventual recapture he reappeared between the flower pots to give yet more minutes of free entertainment.

After tea we bounced down the rough stony track that drops down to Holy Brook and I left Michael and John to have another session on the synthesiser while I had a fairly swift ride home via Bickington and Newton Abbot.

(Graham Brodie)

[We have been unable to find attendance records for this period, so the attendance list for this event is incomplete]