The same area on the March afternoon run, because we were at Don and Grace’s for tea, but with care we managed not to duplicate much of the previous week’s run. We didn’t get the views we should have had from Humber Lane and Teignmouth golf course area, due to rather misty conditions, but with a couple of stops for minor mechanical troubles we were just right for tea when we dropped in Dawlish.

A very nice tea and considerable chatter before heading home through the lanes from Combeinteignhead, not realising that a national motorcycle event had just finished at Higher Roccombe. The lane vanished under six inches of mud and, farther up, there were hundreds more cars coming out of a field, adding to the already muddy conditions at that end of the lane. Jean and I coped fairly well on the tandem but most of the others were reduced to plodding through the mire.

When we got into Torquay the elements did their best to wash the bikes clean, without success, and I’m assured by Mark’s father that both bike and rider needed hosing down when he got home!

(Colin Brierly)