Nine cyclists from Axe Valley Pedallers had a successful day touring the lanes and cafes around St Malo in France.

This beautiful area of Brittany is packed with historic buildings and wonderful sea views. St Malo was made famous as a staging post for pirates during the Middle Ages and a perfect venue for tourists travelling on the Plymouth to Roscoff ferry.

This event has been on the AVP calendar for many years, If you fancy a day tour of Breton lanes with plenty of stops for sampling the local cuisine, this could be the trip for you, it sounds like a 2024 trip is on the cards.

As well as the trip to northern France, there have been plenty of other rides have been taking place locally. The Sunday morning riders have tackled a mixture of routes; a 45-mile brisk road ride to Budgetts Cross near Wellington was tackled in just over 3hrs.

There has also been off-road activity too. The popular Herepath trail in the Blackdown Hills was ridden again, which is a really peaceful route; the only traffic problem came from a handful of Exmoor ponies who were grazing on the common blocking the way. The off-road climb to the lofty Castle Neroche provides a great workout in stunning scenery.

The next Sunday adventure consisted of a muddy mountain bike ride from Colyton to Branscombe mouth and back, using as much off-road trail as possible, it doesn't sound far but a combination of slippery roots and rough flinty trails made for a testing ride.

The Saturday Coffee Clubbers have been exploring some of our rougher backwaters like St Mary's lane near Yawl on their Gravel bikes, A Gravel bike is similar to a drop handlebar road bike but with beefed up tyres.

If a gentle meander to a local cafe is your idea of cycling heaven, then why not try one of the three weekday rides, usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There's usually some sort of group ride on five days of the week.

If you want to try one of these rides, contact the club at axevalleypedallers.co.uk

Midweek Herald: