Having caught the cycle touring bug that summer i planned a long weekend trip in the autumn, using the national cycle network and camping.
Sometimes though things don’t go the way you plan. As i set off from Exter a huge storm rolled in. I could see it on my rain radar and by the time i got to Exmouth it caught up with me. The next 6 hours was spent cycling through the heavy rain. My old rain jacket soaked though. My phone got wet and i couldn’t access my maps. I was cold and wet and everything i was worried about had happened. When i reached Axminster i seriously considered getting on a train and going home.
I kept going though and the rain slowly died down. By the time i got to my campsite there was even a little bit of sunshine.
Despite only being a few days, and not making it all the way, i learnt a lot from this tour. That i should have a way of protecting electronics from the rain, that if i was going to be outdoors an old cheap ratty raincoat probably wasn’t going to cut it, getting soaked isn’t fun but not the life threatening. And most importantly that things go wrong but that you can adapt to get around them.
