90 miles in the rain

The day finally arrived for that terrifying 90 mile training ride. The forecast was for torrential rain and thunderstorms all day, but there was no staying in bed - we had both taken the day off for this and couldn't afford to cancel it, so by 7am we were on the road and heading towards our meeting point, 15 miles away from our homes.  By the time we arrived we were soaked to the skin and really not looking forward to another 75 miles, but it was great to meet up and have company in our misery :-)
I had downloaded a route from the internet so we didn't really have any idea where we were heading, but it turned out to be a really beautiful route looping around the New Forest, Boldrewood, Lyndhurst, Lepe, Beaulieu,,,,,,,,,
Jenny was very pleased with herself, having stayed up late the night before baking flapjacks and packing an amazing calorie-filled lunch box to fuel our efforts.  Imagine her mortification when we had our first snack stop, only to discover that she had left the food behind, together with her first aid kit, puncture repair kit etc....
However, in spite of the rain and managing on my (more meagre) rations, we got through the first 40 miles pretty quickly, with just a couple of nasty hills to slow us down, and decided to stop for hot chocolate at a pub to warm up.  It was a great idea, and we felt so much  better setting off again 30 minutes later, until we unlocked the bikes and discovered that I had a huge puncture.  It took more than half an hour in the rain to finally fix it enough to set off again, but the pressure was low in the tyre and it didn't feel great.
Suddenly I found I was really struggling on the hills, and felt like I was trying to cycle a  tractor, so we stopped again and had a go with Jenny's pump and managed to get another 20 psi into the tyre. That made a huge difference, and before long the weather cleared a bit and we were cycling happily again.  By the time we reached  Lepe ( about 57 miles) the sky was trying to brighten and we were almost enjoying the ride.

However, we didn't stay dry for long, as we discovered that the road had turned into a stream, and the only option was to ride through it unless we wanted to backtrack about 10 miles....

Undaunted, we pedalled on with wet feet and stopped for lunch at a little pub near Beaulieu, where we got chatting with a lovely retired couple who had been keen cyclists for decades. When we left the pub, they sponsored us too!!
We had a short drink stop at 70 miles to chat to some New Forest Ponies...

The next 5 miles were pretty good, with not too much rain, and all too soon we reached our "meet point" near Rhinefield and sat down for a quick New Forest ice cream before parting company to do the last 15 miles back home on our own.  It started raining quite hard again, and I can't pretend to have enjoyed the last few miles, particularly the final hill back to my house, but the sense of achievement as my odometer clicked over the 90  miles was worth all the effort.
Just a few more training rides to do, and Paris here we come!