Mark and Liz organised the October Ride where 8 tandems and 3 solos met at Escot Country House. Escot has very large grounds with a maze and a variety of captive animals -they include red squirrels, European otters, wolves and the Scottish wildcat- some are on a plan to be reintroduced to the wild.
Our route was fairly sparse on steep hills for Devon, passing the hamlets of Fairmile and Coombelake then past Kings School at Ottery St Mary. We then went to Tipton St John where we crossed the river Otter. Now on the east side, we went through the particularly pretty village of Harpford before crossing the main Exeter to Sidmouth road. The route then took us to Otterton Mill for a coffee stop. Beavers have been seen on the river Otter just upstream from this village in previous years but have been more elusive this summer. 
We then cycled on down to the sea at Budleigh Salterton where the sun came out for our photos .It is a great spot for swimming , but a bit cold these last few weeks and had we more time ,we might have visited the creamery at the town end of Budleigh beach ,with a huge range of ice creams. Our lunch booking at the “Lamb and Flag “in Ottery was, however more pressing.
We took a fairly similar route back up the Otter to the pub in the town. They did us proud with prompt service for our pre- booked meals. Ed, local to Ottery told us it’s a pub famous for serving Christmas dinner to people on their own, following a first dinner funded by a local lady. 
Back to Escot for the end of the ride -this one a 25 mile trip. The day started with fantastic sunshine and then was more mixed .For the first week of October, we were very lucky to have no significant rain and sunshine at the seaside at Budleigh.
Mark and Liz Nicholson