Rain, Hail, Wind, Darkness – but no Snow!

In the week between Christmas and New Year, Matt and I went to Rowen, Wales for a little holiday. After a short relax in a friend’s cottage, and some lovely sleep-ins, we travelled out to Penmache, North Wales, to go biking. We managed to pick the one weekend the rain decided to fall, no, drench North Wales. Paddocks were transformed into swamps and roads were flooded, with water spurting upwards out of road drains.

So, we faced the rain with our wet weather gear; it didn’t seem all that bad on the first climb, just a little muddy(!), even if we couldn’t feel our toes by the half way point of loop 1. Feeling adventurous, we thought we’d give loop 2 a go, but we biked into wind so strong it pushed us up hills or swept us off course, depending on the direction of the trail. We pedaled through hail that dashed in sideways and felt like small pellets on our skin. On top of all this, being in the UK in winter it was a race against time to finish the loop and be back to the car before dark. Only problem is Penmache trail was new to us and we didn’t know how long the second loop would take. It was getting darker, the wind was getting stronger, and the hail was getting thicker. We were a little too optimistic.

In the end, thanks to lots of prayer we didn’t have to find shelter in a country house somewhere along the trail, and only just made it back to the car. We were exhausted, soaked, sore, but thankful.
We made it back to Rowen, just in time to grab a pub dinner just doors down from our cottage.

Phew!