Date: Tuesday 13th March 2012
Route: WP, Horrabridge, Double Waters, Grenofen, Bedford Bridge, HQ (See the route)
Riders: Dan, James, Colin, Steve, Sam and Gidon
Depart WP: 19:45
Arrive HQ: 10:10
Distance: 11 miles
Weather: Dry, mild and foggy

No hill too steep, no fence too high

A lovely evening and a decent turn out for what turned out to be a good ride. Keith had sent his apologies – an eat-as-much-as-you-can Chinese proving to be too tempting. The six of us set off in the vague direction of Double Waters, and managed to temporarily lose each other as usual along the track down to Horrabridge. And then again on the moor up towards Long Ash.

All assembled we continued towards Double Waters but soon ended up unsure exactly where we were. After some feeble excuses about the atmospheric fog being to blame, myself and James looked to our GPS gadgets to find out our location. This was all far too much faffing for Sam and before we knew it he was charging off into the distance. A slight fork off our desired route meant a steep climb by foot to try and re-join the intended route which we did and ploughed on along the fairly dry single-track towards Double Waters.

Then a steep climb up from Double Waters as we headed towards Grenofen. From Grenofen we continued along the river back towards Horrabridge with some discussion as to whether we’d get through underneath the new bridge. It turned out the path has been fenced off. Of course a six foot fence wasn’t going to stop Steve as he clambered up a tree over the fence to assess the lay of the land. It turned out there was a gap in the fence a few metres up! We all squeezed through, trying not to disturb the “No Entry” sign. The bridge above us looked pretty impressive. The fence on the other side proved a little more tricky with a choice of sliding underneath or skipping over the top. Only of course it wasn’t quite as elegant as that. Still we were through and continued on to Bedford Bridge where we had to pick our route home.

Although we’d barely covered eight miles it was getting close to 10pm so we chose the most direct route back to the pub. A very steep climb up to the viaduct and then the cycle track all the way back to Yelverton. Colin’s usual energy reserves kicked in as the bright lights of Yelverton came into view. A very enjoyable ride.

Reporter: Gidon

President's Footnote: I should point out that it was Debbie's birthday evening out with family and friends, one of the few excuses for non-attendance I consider valid! And View Pan Asia is pretty good value for £13.00, but if you go lunch time, it's half price!