Me, Michael and Phil went down to Cannock Chase last night for a ride with Phil’s Cannock-based mate Greame. His house literally backs onto the Chase and he’s got a very large driveway for faffing and parking.

We rode up a bit, down a bit, along, up again, down, then joined the “Follow the Dog” trail. That’s a very nice trail actually. Very twisty and narrow in places. Michael hit 2 trees in total, the first one was a mid-air collision – a result of me riding behind him shouting “encouragement” and youthful exhuberance when he saw a jump. It was quite an experience, seeing your firstborn flying through the air headed for a large birch. He was ok, thankfully!

Sadly, the main feature of the ride was the weather. Again. It rained almost constantly apart from the last hour or so where the sky cleared, the moon shone and a herd of deer crossed our path. Ace.