Just the usual 4 turned up at the station car park,Myself, Graham B, Andy P & Dave Newman on a dry day but with the threat of rain later. Graham had his new electric bike which looked the real biz.
We set off towards Wrangaton then Avonwick and taking the back lane to Marley head to encounter our first hill, Graham soared past us all on his new bike.From here it was across the roundabout to Harbourneford Cross then a dog leg onto the lane leading to Moorshead cross. Then straight across at the junction to Moors Head (remains of) to the next really steep hill, Graham again shot past us all making it look easy.We then had a nice long downhill stretch to Deancombe and then onto Buckfastleigh. Riding through the town to the railway station cafe as opposed to the Salmons Leap as it was a bit larger to accommodate the Easter day trippers.This turned out to be a good move as even this cafe was heaving, I have never seen so many people in there before, we were lucky the queue was not to bad , but increased in size as more people piled in.I mentioned this to someone on the way out and he said it was probably due to all the Supermarkets being closed for Easter Sunday and they had nowhere else to go.
We headed off again and took the Ashburton road opposite the Salmons Leap cafe and took the first right to Pridhamsleigh, then another long hill up to Five lanes and onto Wash Cross. Turning right here through Wash, Bumpston Cross and on to the Staverton road, we turned right towards Ben`s Cafe/Farm shop. We arrived to find this closed due to the Easter Sunday trading laws.
We decided to pass on a second drink and head back before the rain started, so it was down to the main A384 turning left and over the bridge on the Dart to take the next right on to the Old Totnes road to Buckfastleigh. On this back lane we encountered another really steep hill, my front wheel was lifting off the ground with the effort of pulling back on my handle bars to make this climb and my bike turned sideways with me doing a slow motion fall and rolling back down the hill.Andy & Dave stopped to see if I was ok and then we could`nt get on our bikes due to the steep hill so decided to walk, to be greeted by a smug Graham taking a photo of us three walking up the hill.
Arriving back in Buckfastleigh we took the usual route back to South Brent, coming through Wrangaton we noticed the cafe was still open so stopped for our second Tea/coffee, just managing to catch them before they closed at 2.30. We came out to find it just starting to spit of rain, but managed to make it back to the station before the deluge
WE had clocked up 35-6 miles and Graham had only used less than half his battery, so the 60-80 mile range would be easy to achieve with sensible cycling.With Graham Flying up the hills and even on the flat with his battery turned off, we were really jealous of his new bike, well except for Dave he still can`t get his head round having straight handle bars and wide comfortable Tyre`s. But we all agree at the benefit it has made for Graham, in fact we think he looks 10 years younger. ( See Picture )
Trevor
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