Date: Tuesday 5th October 2010
Route: Walkhampton, Huckworthy, Sampford Spiney, Pew Tor, Whitchurch Common, Merrivale, Badger’s Alley, Routrundle, Dartmoor Rescue Car Park, Peek Hill, Lowery Cross, Yennadon Down, Iron Mine Lane, Lake, HQ
Riders: James, Sam, Nick, Stephen, Paddy, Keith, Steve, Julian, Paul
Depart: 19:40
Arrive HQ: 22:10
Distance: 15.2 miles (Verified by Stephen’s GPS & Keith’s non-GPS computer)
Weather: Dry, but very misty on the high ground

Where Stephen goes, others will follow!

The ride tonight started with a swift descent to Walkhampton. This was aided by a rather impatient 4x4 driver who at one point was nearly on my back wheel. After he passed at a wider point in the lane he then started pushing the leading group down the hill into Walkhampton. Luckily he turned off in the village and we rode our merry way down to Huckworthy Bridge. From this point the only way is up.

The steep hill out of Huckworthy is always a hard work especially as you’re never warmed up by the time you get to it. We branched off right up the rocky track and crossed Huckworthy Common. Once back on the road we carried on towards and then through Sampford Spiney. As we emerged at the base of Pew Tor we realised Nick was missing. As he had not been since the split in the road a few calls were made to find which direction he had gone in. This gave us the opportunity to recover after all the climbing so far and eventually Nick found us saying that he’d had to stop with gear/chain problems. He may have got left behind if it were not for the rule in the constitution stating that we must not return with less than 10% of the number starting out. Luckily for Nick there were only 9 of us out tonight!

From here we were off up and around Pew Tor. Some of the going was very muddy here and having got a bit tired of ploughing through the mud Nick came off his bike to take a much needed lie down in a patch of prickly plants. At least he had a soft landing.

Eventually we completed the circumnavigation of Pew Tor and got back to the main track, then crossed Whitchurch Common and followed the stream (or is it another leat?) up to the main road, then along the road to Merrivale and a right turn onto Badger Alley. Badger Alley was particularly wet and muddy tonight and Julian fell victim to a rocky section falling off sideways and landing on a rock - a similar fall to Nick’s earlier one, but with a far more painful landing.

At the end of Badger Alley I was kidding myself that we may have been taking the direct route back, so my heart sank as I saw the lights turning left up the steep road back up towards the old railway. When we reached the old railway I was again hoping for the easy route back, but no such luck. Stephen had other plans. It was up again through the thickening mist to the Dartmoor Rescue Car Park. I think the plan was to ride up Sharpitor and along the saddle to Peek Hill, but due to the mist I think the road route to Peek Hill was chosen. At this point Nick enquired what road we were on and I told him it was the main road between Princetown and Yelverton. The reason for this became apparent as when we turned off the road to go up Peek Hill Nick said he was still having gear problems and was going to head back to HQ to wait for us (although we didn’t see him again – has anyone heard form him since?).

After climbing to the top of Peek Hill it was hard to find the route down we wanted and someone (Paddy I think) took the hit for the team by falling off whilst trying to find a route down in the fog. Eventually after a bit of riding back and forth we found the track and made our way back down to the road on the Burrator side of the hill. By now the pub was calling and we picked up the pace to go up the hill to Lowery Cross car park, then across Yennadon Down, down Iron Mine Lane, down to Lake and back to reach HQ at a most respectable time.

Somehow the statistics for tonight’s ride did not stack up. Considering the level of physical exertion required and the large perceived amount of climbing, the facts and figures do not do it justice. Considering we were out for 2½ hours we had only covered 15.2 miles. As we felt we had spent most of that time going up, we thought perhaps the total ascent figures would justify this low mileage, but no, it was only somewhere in the region of 1,800ft. Therefore, it must have been the mud making it difficult for us, and no-one’s cycle computer gives a reading for that.

All in all a most enjoyable, but tiring ride. Hopefully good preparation for the Tour De Moor some of us are doing on Sunday.

Reporter: James

President's Footnotes: These last few weeks the Routemeister has just been gently warming us up for the long awaited return of Al. I think we are all in pretty good shape for the 'Routemeister's Return of Alan mother of all beastings evening'!!