30 July 2019

UK/Éire Trip Day 25 - Winsford to Richmond

km ridden today: 240
km ridden total: 3674
Photos today: 559
Photos total: 6004
Castles/Palaces total: 3
Pubs visited total: 12 
Churches/Cathedrals total: 12
Ferries total: 2
Rainy days total: 5
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What a day. It started off great, it was a nice day, the sun was out but it wasn't hot. I had a nice breakfast with Tex and headed off.

It wasn't the best riding as I was travelling through built up areas with a fair bit of traffic.











The sky started to get darker and darker. I pulled over and put the waterproof cover on my tank bag, whilst I was doing this is started to rain. I didn't even think to do up all the vent zips on my gear or put on my gortex gloves. 

Not only did it rain it poured with thunder & lightning. I did eventually pull over and do up my zips but I already had wet patches.



The rain eased off and I found myself faced with some amazing scenery. It would have been spectacular if it had been a sunny day.






By this time, I really needed a pit stop, saw a tea house at Bolton Abbey so stopped for a coffee & scone.

I continue on and then the rain started again, not just any rain but torrential rain so much that the roads in places were covered in water, as so much water had washed across the road in places there was heaps of debris (rocks, dirt, leaves) on the road. 

It did get scary in places as I couldn't really see, I had to stop and take off my glasses as they kept fogging up, I had to keep lifting my visor so I could see properly but then I was getting rain in my face.









At one stage my GPS took me down a track that had so much debris you could barely see the road. I gingerly turned around (whilst thinking if I drop her here I'm done for) and found a better road.

I got to Leyburn (15km from my destination) and the road was completely flooded (there was a Mini Cooper floating across the road), all the traffic had to turn around. The rain was still torrential. I turned and went into a car park. I got off the bike and found a covered area where I stood until the rain eased off (about 45 minutes). Once it did, I asked some people what direction I needed to go to continue on, I had to go back some way and take another road. 





News reports stated that Yorkshire had a month's worth of rain in 4 hrs.

I finally made it to my destination around 1800, after 240km and 5 hours 51 minutes on the bike. I was so tired when I got here that I nearly dropped my bike twice getting into the carpark.

Weather is not looking good for my time in Yorkshire with rain predicted each day.

Click the target for today's photos 🎯

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