The Axe Valley Pedallers left the Axe valley for April's Sunday club ride with the meeting point being Dartington Cider Press Centre with the 8 riders arriving from several directions. The sun was shining and the day was promising to get a bit warmer. We all had a hot drink to get us going and then we hit the cycle trail into Totnes - a little bit of off-road along the river was a pleasant start and then it was through Totnes to our first hill, it was pretty steep and long which took us all by surprise! Of course, if you go up you have to come down, so we had a nice descent towards the picturesque village of Ashprington. We carried on along the beautiful River Dart to Dittisham where we stopped for lunch in a popular cafe serving lovely local foods.

After lunch it was time for an exciting river crossing, so after hailing the little ferry boat by ringing a big bell, we trundled our bikes onto the pontoon and managed to squeeze all 8 bikes and riders onto the boat for the five minute crossing to Greenway.
After a few more hills we reached Stoke Gabriel, another picturesque village, where we simply had to have another cafe stop in a rather nice place on the river.
We were on the home stretch now heading back towards Totnes, onto the cycle path and back to Dartington where we said our goodbyes. The ride was a total of 26 challenging, but beautiful miles with roughly 1000 metres of climbing.