Watching someone crying with laughter and having to hold their stomach because it hurts so much, is in my book a pleasure to behold. It wasn’t our own original story that caused the corpsing. But the retelling of a chum’s tale of a young boy on a beach in Skegness back in the late 1960’s or maybe early 1970’s hanging out in the sand dunes making mischief.

The ‘corpser’ eventually recovered, as did his audience who too, were all suckered into the uninhibited guffawing. A jolly hearty workout all-round.

We hired e bikes with Mr Chuckle and his wife for an explore of Huahine, one of the less touristy, more laid back of the Society Islands. I might be a late adopter, but now I LOVE an e bike. The boost button is a thing of beauty. You still have to pedal and can work hard on those hills if you choose. However a little press of the smiling button provides an unexpected and joyous nudge. Off to eco to trek to sport to turbo. Those were the options my button offered. The battery life diminished quicker the higher up the turbo chain you were but at the end of the day when we were heading back 25 minutes late for our 8 hour hire, no point in getting back with any remaining battery electrons so full assist was initiated.

The day itself was memorable. Huahine is a beautiful place with hardly any traffic on the roads which removes vehicle stress. We came across French and American soldiers lying in the grass beside the road practicing for a cyclone event. (Or that’s what they told us!) My reaction to spotting them was a surprised “Oh, hello”. Is this the correct way to greet active servicemen and women? They were chatty and friendly, the Americans being from Hawaii.

Mrs Chuckle had clocked a hill that gave great views across the whole of the island so we ducked round the no entry sign and cycled up the grass track to a communications tower. From there we were on foot up a wooded rocky ridge. Maybe 45 minutes to the top of Mount Maua Tapu. A dizzy height of 426m above sea level.

Dave then only had one thought in his head. Burger. Izzy’s Burger Emporium in the village of Fare was the place to go. However, by the time we got there, it was 3.20pm and they stopped serving at 3pm. We met a tour guide there who we’d also met earlier in the day. I guess her work was done as was tucking into a large bottle of Hinano beer. Or perhaps she’d been driven to drink.

The guests she was showing around didn’t even bother to get out of the back of the truck at the viewpoint to take photos. They took snaps from their sitting positions. Holidays from the back of a van….really. Maybe the fact we engaged in some conversation and had a laugh with her about having cycled up to the Belvedere rather than sitting in the back of a truck gave us a modicum of credibility.

No burgers so a trip to the supermarket for some late lunch snap sorted us out. We went to the beach and a couple of cruising Finnish friends joined us as they were anchored off Fare.

The last 19 km’s back to Baie D’Avea on the SW corner of Huahine whizzed by, although we did stop to watch a group of girls and women practicing Tahitian dancing.

Back at the hotel it was time for beer and medals. In the words of Wallace and Gromit, “A Grand Day Out”.