Day 0, My ride to Caerphilly

Was on the bike shortly after 10:30. A detour for fuel and I was on the road proper at 10:50. Weather not great whilst getting ready, waterproofs on, sun came out by the time I left. It was bone dry up until I stopped at Leigh Delamere, though I was sweating inside the waterproofs. I popped into M&S to buy a sandwich, then sat on the bike to eat. Whilst I was there, this Kia Sportage came into the bay next to me and promptly scraped a VW camper in the next bay. The couple got out, had a look, then went off into the services. As I had paper and pen with me, I wrote a message to the camper owners, giving them my contact details. Just as I was about to post the note on their windscreen, the owners came back. They didn't notice the scrape until I pointed it out and were grateful that I did. I was just getting ready to leave, when the Sportage drivers came back. Not sure they accepted they had done anything until the chap said I'd seen them do it. There was a clear scrape on the Kia. Turns out it was a rental car, so they won't be happy. I left them exchanging details.

Back on the motorway it started to rain. Not very hard but enough to cover the screen for a few miles. By the time I got to Caerphilly though, it was bone dry again. I checked in, jumped into some normal clothes and met my daughter, husband and grandson out front, as we were all off to a soft play area. It was nice to spend some time with the boy and watching his interaction with other kids. I want that basket, snatch! I want that wheelbarrow, grab! A pretty little ginger haired girl took a liking to him but he showed no interest. Fast forward 15 years!

Play over, it was back to daughter's house for tea, pizza and icecream. Now back in the hotel.

Tomorrow the tour proper starts. Grizzly will arrive in Pembroke about 13:00. I'm about 1h45m away, so I can have a lie in and leave here about 11:00. The plan is to fuel up the bikes at Tesco and us at McDs before we head north up the Welsh coast.

Till tomorrow.

T minus 5

 With under 5 days to go and despite the postponement of 'freedom day', I can confirm that Plan A will be going ahead on Monday. Finally, after many months of disappointment and two cancelled European tours, Grizzly and I will hit the road together again.

It's not all been plain sailing recently, by any means. Being in the common travel area, Irish citizens are able to come to the UK without any restrictions, so no problem for Grizzly getting here. The problem lies with him getting home, as the Irish government require a PCR test to travel, no more than 72 hours before he goes back. Sounds simple, get a test, get on ferry. The problem for us though, is that we are travelling to/through a different part of the country each day and those 72 hours, in which you have to have had the test, begin when we are in Cornwall, not the most built up area in the UK. Then of course you have to allow for the time to get the results back. Finding somewhere to get a test done, has been a bit of a challenge, to say the least. We were both checking potential clinics in the South West, particularly Truro but finally decided on Barnstaple. We travel through there on Sunday 11th July but not a time when a test could be done, so Grizzly has had to arrange it for the Monday morning, which means a detour to our route to ride back down from Ilfracombe. To be sure of getting the results before the ferry sailing, Grizzly has moved the crossing back 1 day, so we get to spend another night together. Yay! 😧

The weather, absolutely gorgeous for a fortnight, now looks to be changeable, so it looks like yet another tour will start in the rain. I can't see it getting much better over the first few days, as we head up the west coast and into Scotland, where today there has been a 13 degree difference from that here in the South East. Mind you, it is p*ssing down as I type.

The first person to be lucky enough to have us pay them a visit on this tour, I shall call her Sheila to avoid embarrassment, will be getting the knock on the door on Day 3, as we travel from Wales into England. She's a dear friend, so I'm hoping Grizzly behaves himself 😉 There are a few more of you on the list and I'll be in touch nearer the time to arrange a visit. Unfortunately for you, you won't have enough time to move house!

Friday will be bike prep day for me. I'm probably not going to bother cleaning Ginny, as I'm expecting to get wet on my ride over to Wales on Sunday. I'll just make sure the important bits, lights, indicators, screen, etc, are clean. I'll probably get some packing done then too.

Think that's all for now. Next update will probably be when I get to Wales.

Another wet start to a tour 😞