Dorset Miles, Wet, Wet, Wet

Another wet morning, another wet Winter, like last year perhaps, it is starting to feel like it.Six of us leave Bear Cross already wet and head to Wimborne, Furzehill, Gaunts Common and down to Horton, right in the village then quickly left to Haythorne. We go out of our way to allow a truck to pass, our co-operation goes unacknowledged, never mind. On to Woodlands and Edmondsham, Wimborne St Giles and Gussage All Saints, it’s a shorter loop today, it is pouring with rain, shoes are still wet from yesterday’s wet 2 hours and no one is arguing as we turn south. Moor Crichel, Witchampton, and Hogstock, a tight, disciplined, half dozen ,riding “level 2” and sharing the work, keep this grumpy old-timer happy! Tarrant Rawston, Tarrant Rushton,Tarrant Keynston, Tarrant Crawford, we are all Tarranted-out by the time we reach Shapwick. Over the bridge at White Mill, the oldest bridge in Dorset, so they say, to Sturminster Marshall. Crossing the A31 to Dullar Lane is no fun, it is still raining, just a little bit colder. The "white goods" dumped along the verge were left by no two-wheeled litter bug! Lytchett Hill and Pardys are always better once climbed then back to Ashington, Merley and Bearwood. The ratrace that is Castle Lane is just that! 3hrs 10