THE THREE RIVERS CHALLENGE

Once in a while, someone comes up with a really good idea for a bike ride. Yesterday's ride was a mini adventure. Our group were told to take flip flops and keep to exact times as we were to cross one river accessible only at low tide and two others as dictated by the ferry men.
Our group met at Saltram Park in Plymouth and headed off to the Volunteer Inn in Yealmpton where the landlord agreed to open one hour early for our group of cyclists. 20 minutes later we were on the road to Ermington, Modbury and our first river crossing, the stunningly beautiful Erme at Mothecombe.

We had to cycle 10 miles to our next river, the Yealm at Newton Ferrers where first we crossed an inlet accessible only at low tide and then a ferry







An unmade road greeted us on the other side where there were a cluster of ancient cottages. As we climbed we had superb views of the Yealm estuary looking out to sea. The Mewstone, a huge rock about a mile off shore, shimmered in the sun while a white mist was dancing tantalisingly around it. The track took us to Wembury where we rejoined the road and headed to a cafe and cream teas. Never have I seen such large scones as at this cafe. Some put their jam on before the cream while others put cream on first. One is the Cornish way while the other is Devon. Our final ferry took us from Mountbatten terminal into Plymouth's Barbican and we cycled back to Saltram