Wet then wetter

A two day catch up on my blog today as the Guiness go in the way last night !

Day 4...... wet wet wet plus stormy but the Himalayan took it in its stride. Started the day in the cheapest B&B of the trip and I also slept with the landlady ! 

I had been tracking the weather and had pleasingly built in a light day of around 80 miles. Last night I plotted two other routes to avoid going ‘ over the top’ of Holmes Moss .... I decided to make a decision in Glossop as it was my first and only stop on the trip.

So roads in my back garden to start in windy and wet conditions .... still enjoyable as I was all waterproofed up. Buxton first where there was loads of oil/diesel on the route through .... Coffee stop in Glossop where despite dayglow yellow rain coat a woman pulled out in front of me despite looking directly at me, then up the road the other way then out she came .... the ABS kicked in on the back wheel and she drove off no apology! 

I’d decided I was going over the top and it was a good decision. Blowy and wet but I had much of the road to myself. I then took another route not done before and it was the A640 New Hey Road that was a challenge as the wind was strongest here as it was over the tops .... then over the M62 felt a mile high (!) the bridge with diddy traffic below.

New Hobbit hotel in Sowerby Bridge tonight ..... nice room nice welcome. Bigger miles tomorrow as I leave England and enter Scotland .....

Day 5 .... and it got a lot wetter. Raining when I went to breakfast, helped myself to lunch there by way of my bacon and toast saved as well as an apple and a muffin... worked out well as the cafe in Hawes was closed ! 

Just short of 170 miles today, wet but very enjoyable, right gear right bike etc. The road between Settle and Hawes was flooded in a few locations, one 'flood' was the other side of a dip so I hit it at speed that pulled both my feet off the pegs !

 

I'm in Moffat tonight at the Buchan guest house, been here before a nice place nice people. I've stayed in Moffat quite a few times but never arrived on the route travelled today. The last 20 odd miles were on logging roads  - a real mix of good and bad roads but quite twisty.Perfect for the Himalayan 

Ferry ride tomorrow and ever closer to the other end of Great Britain..... just short of 1,000 miles done now.