Went for a ride. Odd day.
I checked the forecast yesterday, then again today before setting off. Possibly rain passing over as I leave London but otherwise just one light shower on the radar so long as I get home before the evening. And there was indeed some light rain as I left London, nothing much really.
But there was some heavy rain last night, yellow warning worthy. Lots of wet roads. Then I went around a corner, saw a puddle in front of me, and slowed down.
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I misjudged it slightly, went too fast. Turns out my new waterproof boots are waterproof. They kept a lot of water inside. After that it started raining too, and I was on a bendy road with wet leaves everywhere. So I was being cautious, could not see clearly through my helmet, cold and wet, and I had a car right behind me that it messing with my confidence. As soon as I found a safe place I stopped so the car would pass. It also allowed me to take my boot off and pour the water out. And take the sock off and wring it out. It really does soak up water. Boot and sock because for some reason on my left foot got soaked.
I decided that given the weather and how I felt physically, cold and wet, that when i reach a main road I will just head home. But when I did I thought I would ride just a little more and turn back when I reach the city. By then it had stopped raining, I was drying out, and I thought I may as well continue my trip to the coast.
When I did reach the coast I parked my bike, and as I was just about to leave it an Italian woman offered me a balaclava. Her partner was a biker and sadly died last year (not bike related) so she had some items in the garage to get rid of, and felt I would put them to use. She also gave me some socks, which was interesting timing as after the puddle I had decided I need to carry a pair of clean socks with me when riding. And she gave me a screen, which is still in the bubble wrap so I have not looked yet to see if it would fit my bike, but it felt rude to say no.
Luckily I have my panniers with me to carry them. And it literally fills the top box completely, that the lid only just closes. I bought a smaller bag thinking it would fit, but even that was pushing it. The problem was that I bought a 150–600mm lens early in the summer, which is pretty long so needs a big enough bag. Today was my first time trying it out, I have not checked the shots yet but it was not a photographic location, particularly being a dreary overcast. But the level of zoom is amazing, and it felt reasonably hand-holdable. Although again that needs checking.
Anyway, it meant I had to move some items from the top box to the panniers to make room. These are the things I normally take in the top box when riding:
A travel towel, for wiping down the bike rather than me but being a travel one takes pretty much no space.
Hi-vis vest, for obvious reasons.
A small holdall and a small backpack, both are very thin and take little space but give a little extra storage for when the top box is full (I suppose no need to take them now when I have the panniers).
A cargo net, so the small holdall can be strapped to the pillion seat.
Spare gloves, in summer I wear vented gloves and take my waterproof ones, in winter I wear the waterpoof ones but take my old, also waterpoof, pair. Because waterproof only applies for so long.
Alarmed disc lock and chain, added security although I only use the former when I do not have an alarm fitted and have never used the latter.
Small compressor, for the tyres.
A bag of bits, pad and pen, utility knife, coins, battery pack and charging cables, small bike cleaning spray, other bits like that.
And (in summer) a bag of toiletries, deodorants, sunscreen, moisturizer, and a cooling spray.
It does not use up that much room in total than, until today, it had never been a problem. That is in addition to what I have under the pillion seat: Honda tool kit, two adjustable wrenches, tyre plug kit, small set of sockets and hex bits, electrical and duct tape, small first aid kit, torch, and secret money (so I can buy petrol to get home if I forget or lose my wallet (I did forget it once, it was the only time I have used Apple Pay)).
When I left to start the convoluted journey home the sun came out, some of the. roads dried out, and the riding was quite enjoyable. Saw a sign which said "Kortill Vanster," which is an oddly illiterate way of saying "Kör till Vänster," the Swedish for "drive on the left" You get signs saying that in English, German, French, and Swedish near ports.
I stopped off in Colchester to buy petrol, after which the TomTom said to turn left when I was sure I needed to turn right. It was wrong, and then kept telling me to do a u-turn somewhere to go back. But the roads form a ring around the centre so I just carried on the same way, hoping that at some point it would just pick the shortest option to get back to the planned route. It did not.
Knowing I needed to head south I just took a left turn to head in the right direction. That became a one-way street heading north, but it had a bus lane heading south and it allows motorcycle, so that was a nice surprise. I was able to go straight though the centre on an empty road but for one bus.
Also today I had some deer running in the road to contend with, and then a load of turkeys (I think) just standing around. By the time I got back to London the estimated arrival time had gone up, so I let the TomTom pick a quickest route. Amazingly it did, and saved me half an hour., back to the original time Given how useless it is most of the time, I was shocked. It has normally only steered me into more congestion.
Finally back home, I realized I have no idea if or how I can put the bike on the centre stand with the panniers attached. I just could not find anywhere to get a grip on the rear of the bike.
Now I am wearing clean socks while drying out my boots and gloves