South Dartmoor CTC Album

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Sunday 2 December 2018
10:15 - 12:00
Morning ride: Buckfast
Drizzle
5 miles (▲ 160m)
3 Participants: Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris
It was hard to get our teenagers excited about a ride this morning, partly because of the light drizzle in the air. We headed towards Holne but before we had got to Hawson Court there was a vote to visit .. The Grange café at Buckfast! Michael is not one to impose rides on the members that do not meet with their approval, so we rode down to Buckfast and discovered just how expensive a café can be.

Michael picked two of the smallest cakes he could find –flapjacks wrapped in clingfilm – from an unlabelled display box, but when he reached the checkout he was told they were £2.95 each! The checkout assistant justified this by saying you have to pay more for gluten-free, to which Michael replied that he loves gluten and would have happily paid less to have it left in! Dillan and Michael shared a single flapjack between them in protest - which came to around two mouthfuls each! Still, we had a nice chat on a damp morning.

We returned home via Grange Road for 12.00 and enjoyed computer games at Crofters until Jude left at 2pm.
Friday 7 December 2018
20:30 - 21:45
Social: Badminton
6 Participants: Harry Back, Ziggy Clark, Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, George Rogers, Mark Thomas
With six taking part in our badminton session once again and everyone's standard improving week by week we had an excellent series of games this evening that ended with Dillan, Mark and Harry all achieving four wins out of five. We used points to distinguish between them, but as Dillan and Mark both had 102 points and there was no time to play a tie-break game we had to declare the two of them joint winners this evening, with Harry only one point behind with 101 points. Well done everyone.
Sunday 9 December 2018
10:15 - 15:00
Morning ride: Ashburton
Breezy with showers
9 miles (▲ 147m)
5 Participants: Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris, George Rogers, John Rogers
The overnight rain and wind was still abating at 10.15 and since our members don't really like winter weather we started with a coffee at Crofters before setting off at 11.30 when conditions were more pleasant.

We took the old road to Ashburton, rode through the town and met George at Ashmoor Leisure centre for an hour of badminton. We then returned to the town - with George running alongside us - for our first ever visit to Taylors tearooms. Here, the hot drinks were excellent, but by the time the cakes arrived twenty minutes later we had long since finished our drinks, so the service could have been better.

We returned to Buckfastleigh with continued light showers peppering the journey on an otherwise sunny afternoon.
Friday 14 December 2018
20:30 - 21:45
Social: Badminton
8 Participants: Harry Back, Will Bastow, Ziggy Clark, Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris, George Rogers, Mark Thomas
We had our maximum 8 people this evening, which required seven games each. We only managed to complete 5 games properly in the time, but some played a sixth game and the overall winner was Jude who won every game he played.
Sunday 16 December 2018
10:15 - 15:00
Morning ride: Holne
Dry start, rain later
9 miles (▲ 290m)
3 Participants: Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris
We had planned to possibly visit Venford and Dartmeet today, although with the unsettled forecast we decided to ride via Silver Street to Holne first and see how things looked. Well the first patches of rain came in as we rode up from Michelcombe, so the lads had no difficulty deciding to divert to the café at Holne. This turned out to be exactly the right decision, as twenty minutes later it was raining heavily.

The café was very quiet today, so we enjoyed our snacks, drinks and intelligent conversation while the rain continued to pelt down outside. When we had been there for an hour and three quarters, however, and the rain still showed little sign of stopping, we decided we had better brave the weather and make a dash for home. In fact, it stopped for a while as we rode down through Hembury Woods, allowing us to finish the ride on a brighter note.
Friday 21 December 2018
20:25 - 21:45
Social: Badminton
3 Participants: Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, George Rogers
Jude had no easy way to get down from Ilsington this evening so just three of us met for badminton at Ashmoor leisure centre. Michael played left-handed again while his right elbow continued its tediously slow healing process. Dillan won two of his three games and was declared overall winner.
Sunday 23 December 2018
10:15 - 20:00
Day ride: Christmas Lunch Ride
Breezy with occasional drizzle
8 Participants: Tao Burgess, Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris, Gavin Pearson, George Rogers, John Rogers, Will Rogers
Wet and windy weather at Paignton prompted Tao to make the decision to use the car today, and whilst it was only drizzly at Buckfastleigh we made the decision to all go by car so we could make the best of our expensive Christmas Lunch.

We arrived at the Edgemoor Hotel, Bovey Tracey for around 12.30 and were soon shown to our private room – the Old School Room. Apparently, the hotel used to be a private school and the owners had tried to retain as much of the original feel of the building as possible.

The meal turned out to be excellent in nearly every respect, with apple and parsnip soup and a chestnut and mushroom main course for the vegetarians. As we didn’t have to cycle back, we ordered coffees to accompany our after-dinner conversation where talk turned to a possible summer tour to Switzerland.

When we finally left at 3.50 after a very relaxed afternoon, we dropped Jude home to Ilsington and returned to Buckfastleigh for a mammoth game of Risk which went on until 8pm.
Sunday 30 December 2018
10:15 - 18:00
Day ride (Car-assisted): Exeter Ship Canal
0 Participants: No participants recorded for this event
With only Michael and Dillan available for today's ride, the event was cancelled.
Sunday 6 January 2019
10:15 - 16:00
Day ride: South Devon Chilli Farm, Loddiswell
Cloudy and rather chilly
28 miles (▲ 700m)
3 Participants: Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris
We have passed the entrance to the South Devon Chilli Farm several times on the way to Loddiswell, but despite the large Café signs we had never ventured in. We had made it the destination for today’s ride, and after riding out through South Brent and Wrangaton we arrived just after 12.00.

It turned out to be a little less impressive than we had expected – basically a modern, barn-type building divided seamlessly into a shop and a café. Michael is not really a fan of spicy foods, but he hadn’t expected the spice to extend to the coffee and cakes! There were only four cakes to choose from, all dark, but one contained chilli, another contained ginger and a third had had its gluten removed. That left only the apple cake, which turned out to be acceptable. Fortunately there was a regular latte on the menu with absolutely no added chilli or ginger, but Dillan tried the Chilli Mocha and thought it was .. interesting!

In the shop there was a very long display cabinet offering sample of around thirty different chilli sauces and jams in little dishes. Michael tried the first sample at the “mild” end and decided that was quite spicy enough for him, but Jude and Dillan were not so reticent and sampled the explosive products at the “hot” end without too many serious consequences. We finished with a sample of chilli chocolate – nice to start with but offering what some would describe as an unpleasant kick after a fifteen second delay.

Leaving the establishment at 1.15 we decided to return via a different route, as the main road from Wrangaton is really not especially inspiring. We rode a short distance towards Loddiswell and then took the path near Reveton that takes you down to the river Avon. We had stopped at this path last year when Tao wanted to drink his flask of coffee and Michael discovered a rip in his shorts, but today we were free to explore it all the way, reminding Michael of the fun we used to have in the Section many years ago. It was steep in places but was a real delight to ride.

After skimming a few stones in the river, we clambered up the path to the old viaduct, joining the railway path that we took last year from Loddiswell station. As previously, we followed this along the riverside to Topsham Bridge and then headed back to Moreleigh. Dillan somehow managed to fall off his bike on the approach to Diptford, grazing his knee in three places. While Michael was patching him up, two separate cars stopped to offer assistance, the second person really wanting to get out her expensive first aid kit. We were surprised and very grateful, but we had all we needed to sort him out.

The final lap home via Rattery was tiring in the dull, chilly air of the late afternoon, and when we got home at 4pm we were very grateful for hot showers and a long rest.
Friday 11 January 2019
20:15 - 21:45
Social: Badminton
5 Participants: Harry Back, Dillan Edwards, Michael Jones, Jude Norris, Mark Thomas
Winner this evening was Dillan with three wins. Jude was runner-up with two wins.
Page 403 of 408 (4072 items)
Events Index Gallery Participants