Raining in all four compass points

[Whealie]

The Eskimos have 40 words for snow. We Brits have about as many ways of saying rain. Whether the Met Office calls the weather showers, or light drizzle, or issues a severe weather warning, one thing you can be sure of - especially if you plan a trip in June, is that it will rain. We've had precipitation and more precipitation.
Whether you measure if by the second or by the metre travelled it has amounted several times to a whole bathfull of water on me and the bike.
And the great thing about rain in Britain is that it always comes a complete surprise to everyone, especially those cage drivers who think they were given the middle lane when they bought their cars.
Rather than build motorways that can drain water, the powers that be simply fit electronic indicator boards so they can put warnings up about spray on the road, asking everyone to slow down. Those fools in the middle lane not only slam on their brakes, they usually put their fog lights on so nobody behind can see a thing. The result is lots and lots of nose to bumper hold ups that are hard to get round with panniers fitted.
You may have guessed that my four compass points trip is not going to plan.
OK, it started well:

I set off in my summer gear and got through London reasonably OK, but then rain and delays and roadworks meant I arrived at my mate Dom's house, near Weston-super-Mare - a mere 145 miles - nearly four hours after leaving.

This is Dom and his Harley. He also had a mate who wanted to come on his GPZ900. so that's three very different bikes.

We trimmed back our plans to hit the Lizard Friday and settled for the Plume of Feathers on Dartmoor. That 100 miles still took three hours. We opted for the bunk house to save pitching and stowing tents in the rain.

Luckily all the cats had been coming down with the dogs as there was no room to swing one.
This is Dom and Paul having a cuppa in the morning.

We headed to the Lizard at 7.30 in the morning, stopping only for fuel.
This is on Dartmoor

We arrived - yep, just 100 miles later - just before 10.30 - another three hours.

The sun came out briefly:

and we decided to call it quits and head for the fastest roads we could, eventually hit 70mph on the M5.
This is me leaving the Lizard

We hope to briefly hit Wales on Sunday and end up in the Lake District, but not holding our breath.
Will report more later.

[Sharribee]

Whealie, great piccies but not good news





It's raining in wales

[Lord Vader]

Whealie, great piccies but not good news





It's raining in wales

But mabel that can not be News,it always rains in wales

[Sharribee]

But mabel that can not be News,it always rains in wales

now thats unfair LV it only rains 99.9% of the time

[Richie B]

Great pics and writeup Whealie.

Below was taken in Pembrokeshire this year. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to you.......

[Whealie]

Guess what I got for Father's day?
Bright sunshine, great roads and two mates to ride with.
What a different day.
It wasn't always clear it was going to be that way. I took these two photos as I came out of the house about 7am this morning (Sunday). South was sunny, north, where we were heading was a different colour. I'm sure we Brits should have 40 different shades of gray too.



Well, we didn't set off till just after 8am and the clouds were moving north. We chased them all day and when caught them up, we stopped for a cuppa and gave them a head start, again. The chase is better than the kill.
We hoofed from Weston up the M5 and across the new Severn Bridge (toll-free for bikes).
My MP3 player suddenly started up 2.4.6.8 Motorway by the Tom Robinson Band. I was in bright sunshine on an almost empty road. When I heard the line "Whiz-kid sitting pretty on his two-wheeled Stallion" I was grinning from ear to ear.
Wales looked dark and gloomy and as I passed the Welcome sign I flipped my sun visor up for the first time as it looked black. But it was just a threat of rain. A tiny splash and then it cleared.
My mum always told me all forms of racism are abhorrent, except against the Welsh. I think that's just jealousy because the Welsh have such lovely scenery and such great roads. We cut out Snowdonia, which is an area I love but have never visited by bike, so I must make that a special trip.
We criss-crossed the English-Welsh border and rode some fantastic, empty, twisties - all in bright sunshine. We had intended to go further into Wales but needed to catch up so trimmed the route a bit. An extra short-cut followed because while I was in khazi parking my breakfast, Dom told Paul we were about 20 miles further south than we were so he headed off in the wrong direction and we followed him. But we found our way back off the main road and had some face-splitting fun.
After skirting Welshpool and Oswestry and Wrexham we hit Chester and the motorways north. Then we turned off to Windermere, where my friends Steve and Michelle live, who had kindly agreed (I would say offered but I think I sounded so depressed last night when I called that they felt obliged) to put us up for the night.
It was only then that I remembered that we should have taken some photos. The roads this morning had been such fun we'd forgotten to stop except to pee and refuel. So the only picture I have is of Dom and Paul on the road into Windermere:

We stopped by the lake at Bowness (where I have jumped in one snowy New Year's Day) for another cuppa and then to our hosts'.
This has been one of the best Fathers' Days I have ever had, so thanks to Mrs Whealie and the little Whealies for letting me be here.
Scotland tomorrow. Run rain, run. You don't want us to catch you up.

[boboneleg]

Great stuff Whealie..............keep it going

[piguglyshandydrinker]

good on ya Chris, keep it coming & good luck for the rest of the trip

Phil

[Whealie]

Monday morning's weather report: Steve and Michelle live in Towerhouse so I thought the best place to test the weather would be from the Tower:

Can't understand why they left London, can you?
Heading for the Hardknot pass . Not sure where we're staying tonight or whether I'll find internet access.
Have a good week all.

[Sharribee]

Hope the weather holds out for you, have a safe ride guys