Our plans to play badminton this evening came to nothing once again as there was not a single court free anywhere in South Devon!  We organised some very enjoyable team games on the computers instead and had a great evening.

Callum loves bowling and Michael needed to call in to the Vue cinema about some ticket refunds, so a visit to Plymouth seemed the ideal social this evening.  Ash surprised everyone and himself by winning the bowling with a score of just 108, and he even beat Michael and Callum at Pool as well! 

Next up was a short music quiz where Zac seemed unfamiliar with almost every genre of music Michael came up with.  Julian and Callum were the clear winners here, but everyone had fun.  We concluded a great evening with a team game on Call of Duty, where Julian and Zac's ploy of closing the door to their room so they could discuss tactics in private failed to make any noticeable difference to the magnitude of their trouncing!

Our return route along Barracks Hill took us down memory lane for Jack who had lived in Dartington when he was younger and had frequently visited his gran at Week.  The farm lanes took us quickly to the hill up to the sawmills and we returned to Buckfastleigh via the Pennywell downhill .

We called in to Tesco on the way home and still had time for a game of Call of Duty when we got back to the Clubroom.  

Since we were in the village we bought some refreshments from the coop and ate them under the shelter of the shop front, but by now the rain was settling in for the morning so there was nothing for it but to head for home as quickly as we could.  Zac and Jack had no coats and Zac and Ryan were wearing jeans, so by the time we had taken the main road back to Marley Head and then cut back to Dean hill for the final descent they were thoroughly drenched.  They didn't seem to mind, although they were very grateful for the warm fire and computer games on offer at the clubroom after the ride.

Josh was given special permission to come to this evening's social as he was keen to join the cycling club, but this didn't prove too productive as he hadn't realised the cycle rides were on Sundays and conflicted with activities in his other sports club.  Nevertheless we spent a very enjoyable evening playing team games of Call of Duty and introducing Josh to the Lord of the Rings PC game.

Callum really wanted to do ten-pin bowling this evening so we booked two games at Plymouth for the usual high Friday night prices.  Michael came out first in both games with Ash taking it in turns for second place.  After a little time on the arcade games we called back to Tesco Lee Mill for some snack purchases and a browse of the recent games releases.

We managed to find two badminton courts free this evening, but only at Combeshead school at Newton Abbot, and only from 9pm until 10pm.  We played various computer games in the clubroom first, then set off for Newton and had some great games of badminton - some of our members are showing definite signs of improvement.  The only downside was that the three without racquets were charged £1.40 hire fee each on top of the court costs, so we may have to give Combeshead a miss until we all have our own racquets.

We returned to Buckfastleigh via Abham.

We had to change our plans again this evening: when we arrived at the Tenpin bowling centre in Plymouth we discovered that all the lanes were booked out until 10pm.  Well we all enjoy Pool, so we decided to do that instead.  Two of the tables we chose decided to eat our money without giving us a game, but once that had been sorted by the staff we had several good games on two adjacent tables.  Tesco provided refreshments on the way back, then we finished with a game of Call of Duty on the PC network.

From Gallant Le Bower we rode down the track through Holne Woods past the newly-felled timber and on through River Dart Adventures where all the campers had finally gone home.

Our plans to kick off our new social season with some badminton came to nothing when Michael found that there were no free courts anywhere in south Devon.  When Squash was also unavailable we played a grand game of Lord of the Rings on the PC network, took a trip to Lee Mill so the youngsters could buy some good value snacks and then returned for a little Call of Duty. 

The completely drained upper section of the Tottiford reservoir	Ash & Callum on the path by the lower section of Tottiford
View to Tottiford dam	Tottiford reservoir from the dam
	Trenchford reservoir

The ride had been delightful but had also been rather short, so we finished with a spin down the hill to the village of Lustleigh where we were able to confirm that the cafe is still doing business.

At the top we were rewarded with views of myriads of twinkling lights spread across the whole of South Devon.  We stayed there chatting and taking photos until we got too cold, then enjoyed the descent across the moor to Cross Furzes and home.

Our return route was up the hill to Penn farm, down the field path that today was heavily occupied by cows and then through the downhill woodland track that returned us eventually to Green Lane and home.

We returned through Hembury.  AS it was Zac's birthday tomorrow Michael had bought a chocolate birthday cake before the ride for us all to share when we got back.  Sadly Zac chose to pursue other activities this evening, but we still celebrated his birthday by finishing half the cake!

The riverside path was delightful today in the sunshine, although Michael felt a bit stupid riding Callum's little bike when he suggested a bike swap.  After enjoying a chocolate break in the play park we headed back to Buckfastleigh via Abham and Caddaford.

Monday 23 August 2010 (9 days)

Summer Tour: Scottish Highlands and Islands (245m)

6 Present: Ashley Freeman (15), Callum Freeman (13), Ryan Havinga (14), Hallam Iles (13), Michael Jones, Zac McGrath (14)

Weather: Variable

Zac had a new bike this evening - an enormous Gary Fisher hybrid - bought for our forthcoming tour, and he certainly seemed to make good speed on it.  We returned via Abham.

After emerging from the woods we took the track through Holne Woods to River Dart Adventures, which was packed with visitors as one would expect in peak season.  At Ashburton we had time to take the old railway track to the park so that Ash and Callum could play on the jumps for ten minutes before we headed back along the old road to Buckasftleigh.

In view of the rapidly fading light we had to return along the same route as our outward journey, via Hembury Woods.

Report to follow.

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Sam and Charles Acland turned up for this evening's ride but because they had forgotten to ring in advance and nobody else had rung, Michael had already made other arrangements for the evening.  Sadly, therefore, the ride could not take place, but Michael was disappointed and hoped that Sam and Charles would be able to make it next week.

Report to follow.

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There was little enthusiasm for riding in the rain, so we arranged a video evening by watching the latest blu-ray DVD release, Avatar.

Friday 9 April 2010

Junior Tour: Bath and the Somerset Levels (105m)

8 Present: Tao Burgess, Ashley Freeman (15), Callum Freeman (13), Ryan Havinga (14), Hallam Iles (13), Michael Jones, Zac McGrath (14), Matt Porter (13)

Weather: Sunny & warm

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To celebrate Ashley's recent bithday we enjoyed a special trip to the Odeon cinema at Exeter to watch the latest 3D movie Alice in Wonderland - a much darker and more action-packed movie than the older versions.  The movie was great and everyone enjoyed their evening.

Our first movie night of the season took place this evening, with everyone very much enjoying the award-winning animation Up.

Well they wanted a trip out but couldn't afford bowling, so Pool became the plan.  We had four games each at Plymouth, alternating pairings, and whilst everyone had some great games the main news of the night was how much Callum had improved since last time!  Ashley and Ryan played an arcade game that went on for ages, then we dropped into Tesco as usual on the way home.

Tonight we managed to arrange a long-overdue trip to the cinema at Plymouth, this time to see "Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief".  The film is often compared with Harry Potter, but it's really nothing like it.  Everyone thought it was an excellent evening out.

After playing some computer games until 7.35 Callum finally got his wish when we headed to Ivybridge to play tennis in the huge indoor courts there - £6 per person, but the other members who usually blocked his request just weren't here to stop him tonight.  Callum learned how to serve properly tonight and we all thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

We called in to Paignton's Morrisons on the way home only to discover that it had closed at 9pm - not at all like our 24-hour Tesco at Lee Mill!  WE went instead to the Morrisons garage: the cleaning woman had just mopped the floor and didn’t seem at all pleased that we were in there!  We got back at 9.48 and of course the youngsters just had to make use of the last twelve minutes for another game on the PCs!

Our plans for squash or tennis were thwarted by the non-availability of courts for the former and the high price (£6 per person) of indoor courts for the latter.  We had to content ourselves with an evening of computer games, including Dawn of War on the PC network.

A unanimous decision was made to do ten-pin bowling tonight at Plymouth.  Michael stunned himself by beating his own personal record - three strikes in a row, commonly known as a turkey, got him a final score of 152.  Ash beat his personal best too getting a spare and two strikes in a row with a final score of 134.  After a game of pool and a little time on the arcades we headed for home, calling in at Tesco so the youngsters could buy themselves some cheap treats.  There was still time for a short game of Call of Duty before the social ended at 10pm.

Zac's attempts to block our proposed badminton evening came to nothing, so after a few games of Call of Duty on the PC network we set off for Combeshead school for some excellent badminton matches, joined at the end by a teacher from our local school who happened to be there playing with a club and showed the less experienced members how to play!

Today's social came at the end of another day of snow and an unexpected day off school for our younger members.  Callum only managed to get down by hitching a lift on a quad bike!  Our game of Lord of the Rings ended in failure on the open map of Tournament Hills because Zac and Callum just couldn't defend their own bases, but we still enjoyed the battle.  WE spend the rest of the evening playing the inevitable Call of Duty on the PC network, when Michael demonstrated that other perks can be just as effective as Juggernaut.

Michael had downloaded a Playstation 3 version of Pinball Dreams today, but when everyone had finished trying it out we got on with a serious game of Lord of the Rings - four brutal armies kept us occupied until 9.30 but we cmae through with a victory in the end after some good teamwork.  We finished with some epic battles on Call of Duty.