The day didnt start too well with Wheelys bike refusing to start before the off AGAIN!!! (Ooo, the mightly Blue fails twice. Time to switch to the dark side?)

Half and hour of tinkering to ensure fuel and spark were present which they were and, even jumping off the car battery and still no joy so he decided to call it quits and begrudgingly sent us on our way. Landyman had a route in his Garmin but I borrowed Marks map incase we might need them.

So, four were then three: Me, Landyman (leading) and Ben Wheely.

Note: excuse the lack of lane prefix. I have 1:25 000 and the prefixs are not the same as the 1:50 000 so I dont know what these prefix are (probably 202?) but Im sure you can all work it out.

We headed towards Yealmpton / Ermington riding lanes 217 (Ashcombe Hill), 208, 193, 194 and the topic of much recent discussion / debate, 195. Rest assured we rode all the lanes with respect as we always do and crawled past the house sos not to upset anyone as we always do. After exiting 196 we took a right off the main road to avoid 179 (Devils Steps) as the eastern end of this lane has severely deep water at present and we didnt want to risk the possibility of a premature end to our day with a dead bike.

171, 172 then 180 (Lupridge Lane) were next (see www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr4-DqR_aHE) followed by 173 and 174 to Wheeldon, the start of which had a fallen sapling tree crossing the lane which saw us all doing the bike limbo. 181 was next which exits past the guardians-of-the-garden as I call them the two geese and the pea****s (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=65DP3KX29bU).

An easy 204 then a rutted, slippery 197 with no badgers this time (Last time I was stuck behind Slick whos XR 400 simply refused to kick over. He was sweating buckets by the time it finally got going. Chop it in for a KTM I reckon ) saw us heading towards our next lane at East Boreston which I dont know the number of but its a tricky, rocky decent that ultimately exits near Halwell and 184. The start of 184 saw both Landy and Ben hopelessly spinning up the rear with little traction from their MT43 (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuZor05CbLo). Traction did get better but only slightly. The rocky gulley at the transition of 184 to 182 proved rather tricky with me having to step off the saddle and walk it over the final rock with the help of the engine. Landy apparently cleared it but Ben copped out and rode up the side, Boooo. Exiting 182 we headed towards Harbertonford taking in 177 and 176 before stopping for a bite to eat at the garage.

Again I do not have a number for our next two lanes (the Master maps I copied were possibly not up to date?) but they were NW of Harbertonford near Great Englebourne taking us to Harberton, the second of which has a tricky but nice, uphill rocky section before a sharp right turn. No major incidents here but it took a second attempt to clear the rocks for Ben and Landy stalled having just cleared it, DOH! (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zxv2z95-LQ). From here we hit 144 and 143 which were pretty deep! (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mpCY31weWc) At the end of 143 we bumped into a few other laners whod overshot the entrance to 143 at the north end. There was a red XR400 Someone Landy knew, a DRZ + others????? Good to see ya chaps. My advice to them was to stay left in the submerged section of 143 as Landy had gone right and had an inadvertent change of direction moment and a bit of a dab(?) which is never good in a 2 foot deep puddle!  From here we continued heading towards Totnes riding 133, 123.

At Totnes centre we saw Lorn and her group and stopped for a short chat. All was going well with them, a fair few badgers to report from Slicks partner Anna but good on her for giving it a go, especially in such inclement conditions. Not the easiest time of year to take up trail riding. Xtrips attire had me slightly concerned though (see Slicks pics on Lorns ride report) wearing a dress to apparently qualify for Lorn Ladies Rideout, Hmmmm 

Leaving Lorn and the gang Landy took us out of the centre to 134 which is a lovely long lane if a little rocky. I didnt recall ever having ridden 134 before but when we popped out onto the A385 near the Berry Pomeroy turning I knew where we were and realised I had ridden it once before back in the summer it seemed much easier then!?

This was our turning point and from here we headed back towards Totnes taking in 123 again en-route to Rattery. One of the large puddles in 123 saw me doused with a tidal wave of muddy brown water and from here on my gloves were soaked  Note to self: need to get some A/Stars Chill gloves please Santa 

Heading north from Blakemore Farm towards Rattery, Landy inadvertently missed 109 but as its a wee short lane (probably less than 100m) we werent too concerned and continued on to 97 (Water Lane) then the infamous 96, nicknamed by us as Slatey Corner as it has a wicked slatey corner that, if you dont know its coming, WILL have you off, especially in this weather! (Landy did allude to the fact it had claimed a few more victims in my recent absence from a few rides). Landy had a wee spot of trouble just prior to the slatey corner section and I too had a right mare just after struggling to get traction and ride in a straight line over all of the cut branches that line this section of the lane (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN9jqF7bknc) It was good fun though hence the yee-haa that can be heard on the vid 

From Rattery it was off to Dean to take in some of our other favourites, Slatey Hill and The Step in the field, 86 and 85 respectively. 86 was no problem as the torrent of water that runs down it leaves a nice clear line through the middle going off piste so to speak can make for interesting riding though as it is a bit of a shallow gulley  When we got to 85 that was a different story. Ben and Landy have ridden this a few times recently in my absence (due to holiday) and said that its been a mare lately and this was to prove true. There was little traction from the MT43 upon entering the bottom field. Once going it was a case of keeping momentum. At the halfway point, just before the step, we opened the other gate and had a wee breather. Landy attempted the step first, making it eventually. I went next and had a bit of a mare with a few stalls but eventually inadvertently wheelied outta there in 1^st gear probably looked good though? Ben was next and made it after getting stuck half way. It wasnt only slippery for the bikes as Landy has an Ooopsy-daisy slipping over after helping Ben (See www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxAJkt-x_0o).

If all that sounds like hard work I can tell you it was nothing compared to getting to the top of the field! Absolutely NO traction, NONE!  So, I had to revert of getting off the bike and pushing while revving the nuts of it in 3^rd. Ben came to help after hed made it to the top but he decided to push from the rear. Well, you can imagine what he looked like after that! Can I borrow a tissue to clean my goggles I think he said, ha ha . He was plastered. At the top we then rode 85 then it was onto 84, affectionately named Boggy Lane by us as there a nice boggy bit towards the end. This section turned out to be less of an issue than the start which is downhill and, with the thick mud, proved challenging I admitted to having paddled down most of it. As I was perched on the bank to video the guys coming through the bog I could see Landy was having a few issues with the thick mud as he approached.

Our last lane of the day turned out to be 120 as it was raining quite hard by this point. We had planned to ride 154 near Bittaford but due to the rain and the fact that 154 is a bit of a sod being a deep gullied up hill at the start with rocky steps and a bar-steward rutted section at the top we decided to head straight for the jetwash at Ivybridge and call it a day, and a cracking day it was! A welcome return for me after my hols . Thanks to Landy for navigating, a sterling job.

Lanes ridden: 34

Time: approx. 5 hrs

Distance ridden: Approx. 80 miles