27 Nov 25: Once more into the breach

 

 

The morning started very early, with all of us being serenaded by a cock... cock-a-doodle doo!

Followed by a christmas beat mix tape played full volume by the neighbour.

They are keen on their christmas decorations but they look a bit incongruous  in the humid rain or boiling sunshine. 

Today served up 180 km of “character building” riding: it began with a twisty mountain road made far more exciting by the heavens opening and dumping rain so hard that visibility went from poor to “guess and hope.” Glimpes of the verdant forest could be seen through misty rain spotted visors and low cloud.

Eventually the route spat us out onto a busy main road… just in time for the heavens to open again.  Still it was wrth it to get away from "rachel from Accounts" budget sham.

 

Mid-deluge, Russ discovered his front brake had completely given up—pads utterly shot. Luckily, the local Honda dealership worked at lightning speed and had him sorted in record time.

With the crisis averted, David, Mark, and BJ left Russ and Terry to sniff out a suitable lunch stop—and boy, did they deliver. An absolute gem.

The afternoon turned into another long, busy slog, culminating in a dash to the “love” hotel in San Raphael as yet another downpour descended. Unfortunately, this final soaking came with collateral damage: David’s navigation phone. While ploughing through a deep puddle, he hit an unseen pothole, launched skyward, and the phone made a bid for freedom—never to be seen again.

For the record, the Love hotel has a car port under your room and you can pay for the room by the hour; however, you have to find your own company!  That said, the car port doubles very well as a chinese laundry drying room.

3 days of wet boots:

Another day of adventure, chaos, and unintended cocknockery on the road.

Great eating house nearby but the poor waitress was confused as we ordered a meal for 2....each.

Retiting to bed at 2000 hrs.

Forecast tommorow looking a bit better🤞