Took the ferry to Picton last Tuesday. I had in mind a wee trip to a mates who lives in Refton on the west coast. The weather report wasn't too good on the morning i left but hay if you stay at home due to forecasts you guarantee fine weather don't you?. The afternoon was a steady ride to the Wairau Valley tavern for the night. What a place open fire, empty bar, great meal and tucked up in bed by nine. (hard living hard parting traveller oh yes).
It rained hard all night and was still at it in the morning. I rugged up and pushed on into a building southerly ,it will blow out by lunch time i told my self. I made slow progress uphill and into a southerly wind , did I mention the hail I had to stop each time a hail shower hit as it was too painful to ride into it.
By eleven I was nearing Tophouse cold to the core. I stopped to shelter again when a road worker pulled up, he gave me a drink of Milo but I spilt most of it from shacking to hard. I couldn't stop from shaking, so I started looking for shelter but there is nothing there. The rain and hail was getting heaver and the water was flowing across the road in small steams. The hail would cover the road in a instant making it very icy to ride on, so I pushed on . Just around the next corner was a ford the water was too high to cross so I stopped and shook in the middle of the road dumbfounded and not wanting to admit defeat. Finally i turned around and retraced my journey back home. Lesson, "sometimes the weather reports are right"!!!
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