The Yellow Submarine – Dorset Run 
The Yellow Submarine – Dorset Run
Never before has Captain Sensible's rain dance been so effective! In the early morning gloom nine hardy individuals could be found huddled in a Tesco's trolley park extolling the virtues of Goretex. Never mind, the ever reliable British weather would ensure a changeable and interesting days weather, or so we thought. Little did we know as we set off up the A34 that persistent precipitation was the order of the day.
Panos set a healthy pace which soon saw us on the A30 heading through Stockbridge. Its not clear whether it was the familarity of the route, one we have taken many times, or the desire to be somewhere warmer and drier, but for once the group maintained close formation with no need to wait for the pack to reform. On we went through a quiet Salisbury and on to one of our favourite sections of road, the A30 between Barford St Martin and Shaftesbury. With little other traffic on the road (most sane people were sat with the Sunday newspapers and a cup of tea, watching the weather outside) we enjoyed the fantastic flowing bends to the full.
At Shaftesbury we filled the tanks with petrol, ourselves with coffee and the floor of the garage with water. Our regular stopping off point, the Little Chef, may be no more but we made the most of the comforts available as we tried to drip dry. There were some mumblings amongst the "less hardy" about going home at this point but to everyone's credit we all stayed with it.
And so onwards further west along the A30 and then the challenging A352, the road strewn with gravel as we dodged the ever-increasing puddles. But at this point we scented our destination - the famous Wicked Breakfast - and maintained our pace. It was a sorry looking bunch that squelched into the cafe but, to our amazement, there were a lot of "like minded" riders there as well. It was over lunch, and heroic talk of the mornings ride that it was discovered that there is something bigger and more daunting on the menu than the Wicked Breakfast - perhaps next time we called this ride the Wicked Brunch; a meal so big it has its own gravity!
We left some thirty other bikes parked up and headed back towards home. The B3143, another favourite, took us back north then the A3030 and the B3091 took us back to Shaftesbury where we rejoined the A30 and headed east. It was as we headed back into Wilton that we had out first and only delay, a puncture, which took us down to seven who then carried on for a final stop at the Cafe on the Hill for drip drying before heading our separate ways.
A big thanks to Panos for leading, Chris for being tail end charlie and the whole group for smiling through adversity.