Summer weather

Today the Connie and I had a bit of a mission.  I'd decided to go up to the 'naki to nephew Alex's 4th birthday party but the Wanganui Toy Run was also on...problem?  Nah, I decided that I'd pop over to Wanganui, drop off a toy and then just carry on up the party.

It was pretty breezy as I rode over to Wanganui and I even had a little bit of drizzle as I rode through Turakina.  It was a lot better when I got into Wanganui and after a bit of tooling around I finally found the Toy run start (different place this year).  I dropped off my toy and caught up with Santa - Bryn who rides with us on the BRR rides - and then carried on North.

Rolling out of Waverly the wind went from merely gusty to blowing it's guts out and this pretty much was story all the rest of the way up.  On my favourite little short-cut I even had to do a really quick evasive maneuver when I came around a corner and found a branch across my side of the road.  Luckily there was nobody coming the other way and I managed to swerve around it with no problems.

North of Stratford I ended up also having to deal with wet roads so took my time, especially on the narrow and slippery road that heads inland to the farm.

A Ratipican Pirate

Once there it was party time with kids everywhere and all sorts of goodies to eat.  While there the weather really packed it in with a massive amount of wind and rain - things weren't looking that flash for the ride back!

Luckily the wind eventually died down and the pouring rain let up and at about 3:30 I decided that I'd better get while the getting was good.  I left the farm and started my trip back with just a few spits of rain but very wet and slippery back roads to negotiate.

Back out on the main road I got a few light showers but no massive downpours or howling gales to contend with so actually had a pretty good ride back.  About two and a half hours on the road and I was home safe and sound.

What happened to that great weather we had last week?