Soggy tales

I am writing this very soon after finishing todays ride for once. Actually I am so tired and comfortable I can't bring myself to do much else other than cosy up on the sofa with a cuppa and my laptop.
Todays' adventure started at the White Horse with all five of us for the first time in many months. Trusty came up to join us, reporting that the weather down on the coast was very wet. We were all prepared with waterproofs and over shoes etc. in case it headed in our direction. We headed off at a good pace over into East Sussex and even Kent at one point. Beth had to re-inflate her front slow puncture then a short while later got a puncture on the other tyre! Then a few miles on that tyre went down again. Captain Trusty took some flak regarding this as he had sorted out the original puncture using a different method to how John does it. So when it went down again he was an easy target really for some ribbing. Never mind, we don't mean it really! Had a gorgeous ride over the heath to Hartfield reminding me of the walks we used to take there in my acupuncture college days. Revising point location on the heath!
We stopped for lunch well after the halfway point of our ride because there was a big hill we needed to get over first before we felt we deserved any! We stopped at a place in Maresfield which had a very eccentric lunchtime menu but all managed to find something to re-fuel on. Beth was celebrating her wedding anniversary so had a pint and a half of real ale and proceeded to get very giddy! Actually we think she is de-mob happy as she is off to California on Wed for two weeks. Lucky lucky gal!
We had been very lucky with no rain up until this point. But we paid for it over the next two hours. It just lashed. And we were on the A272 to Haywards Heath which is an interminable road even in a car! On a bike in the pouring rain it defies description. Any attempt at team riding went out the window with Alex and John disappearing ahead, Beth tootling along in middle and Trusty keeping me company at the back.Man, was it wet!
Just outside Cowfold we passed John talking to an older cyclist on the side of the road and when John caught up with us he related that the man had got caught in the rain and was desperately cold and 20 miles from home. So when we got back to the car John and I drove back and picked the poor man up, put his bike in the boot and drove him home - wrapped in a space blanket and with the heater on full blast. I do hope he has made a full recovery by now - not a great day to be stuck out on one's own.
So now we are home. Hot showers were the order of the day and resting up to do it all again tommoro! We covered about 60m in 5 and a half hours riding time. Well over 12mph which is great given the big hill and rain. Last big ride of our training schedule tommoro. Yippppeeeeeeee!