By early evening all 8 of us had arrived at the guest house and so we headed off to a local pub for a nice meal and drink to charge our batteries ready for a weekend of riding. The first day was spent in the Quantocks with plenty of climbing and descending including Smiths Combe (5 stream crossings in one descent – see this months MBR for details-one of their favourite descents(and Phils apparently- well not the steep technical section in the middle or the killer climb out the other side!). The final descent was Weacombe, a great finish to the day and back for well deserved tea and cakes (28 miles and over 5200 feet of climbing in all). As the weather was so good, bright sunshine and not wind and trails in perfect condition we decided to spend the day exploring Exmoor. We started from Minehead, an interesting start this one, as the car park we chose was at the top of the hill so the first thing we did was descend via the road to the sea and then climb back up again. Eventually after an exciting, long and rocky descent through the woods we came to the big climb of the day - the signpost said 2.5 miles Dunkery Beacon, we all looked in horror and rightly so, it was steep and rocky all the way. Only one of our group made it all the way to the top without walking - congratulations Dave. Of course after much more riding we had the last climb of the day to guess where, yes the car park at the top of the hill, great days riding (22 miles only 3600 feet of climbing but it felt like more!). Looking forward to the next trip when we will ride down Holford Combe not up Mike