Dorset at this time of the year is awash in deep greens and yellows; the UK’S patchwork quilt is taking shape and "What’s great about Dorset" said Lance (no not Mr Armstrong) "is the fact that around every corner is another surprise just waiting to catch your eye." Lance was telling me this while we were looking out from a narrow gap on the edge of a wood above the Winterborne valley and looking south across to the Isle of Purbeck, some twenty miles away in the hazy distance.

Saturday's route took us from Milton Abbas via a gentle road warm up and some wonderful single track to the equally wonderfully named Gallows corner, a five-way bridleway junction en-route to our first stream crossing over Devils Brook at Dewlish.

Classic Drove roads were the order of march from here, with a great sweeping descent down into Piddlehinton and our lunch stop at the very picturesque thimble inn.

Post lunch found us going straight into another stream crossing. A long steady climb to the striking escarpment of Lyscombe Hill with its commanding views across the Blackmore Vale to the north and the chalk uplands to the south, gave us a welcome break and an unusual photo opportunity!

The best downhill runs are always from the top of the best climbs, so, notwithstanding a couple of farm gates, the run down through Nettlecombe farm is over far too quickly!

Although we did make it to the Fox pub in Lower Ansty for afternoon tea, the growing number of rain clouds on the horizon encouraged us to move on to the real test of stamina which was the climb up the old track at Combe Hill just to the east of Ansty. This of course was followed by an equally technical but faster downhill through the woods to Hilton and an enjoyable easy ride along the valley bottom back to Milton Abbas.

Sunday morning was warm and sunny, so what better way to start the day than with a killer climb up out of Hilton to the plateau like escarpment of Green Hill. This climb enabled Roger to test out more than just his bike after his long lay off.

After a long run down and across to the Winterborne valley, we rode through a lovely wooded grove blanketed with a haze of bluebells but, unable to find any trace of downed WW2 bombers, we blasted (oops! Rode diligently) along the excellent single track across the top of the Winterborne valley and having managed to avoid the ramblers association en masse, we dropped down into the Winterborne valley (again) to view the 980 year old tythe barn at Winterborne Clenston. Yes…. very nice!

The final wooded area between the Winterborne valley and Milton Abbas involved a very steep technical decent and short but tricky climb out of the wood.

A big thankyou to all the guys (and gal) for an excellent weekend's riding, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and I look forward to seeing you all again in the Autumn.

Colin