Raining in all four compass points
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.
Last edited by Whealie; 18-06-07 at 06:52 AM.
Whealie (Wing Commander, @ Airborne Division)
Two XRV750-M ('91) RD04s on J ('92) plates.
Laser Pro Duro, crash bars, bark busters, heated grips, GPS, topbox, Alu Boxes, Scotoiler, Starcom, ciggie lighters and XRV stickers.
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