Stuck in Essex
Today we got up early to get the dogs walked and pack all sort of stuff in the car (including a change of clothing and some baking I did yesterday) ready to head for Kent and arrive early at F and M's new house, because we had been promised an opportunity to be introduced to their horses and do a little riding.
The amount of rain while walking the dogs suggested to us that the riding probably wasn't an option, so we phoned F and arranged to come at party time, but bring the riding gear with us in the hope of a 'lovely evening'.
At noon, we put the dogs in the car and started out for Canterbury environs.
Except that the rain came down harder and harder (parts of Essex had two inches in an hour) and by the time we hit the A127 we had spent most of the time with at least one side of wheels in three to five inches of water, and people driving like idiots on the A12 and the aforementioned A127.
The rain came even harder and we began to think not so much about getting to Kent but about coming back, and about the unmade roads we would have to negotiate in a car without four wheel drive. I was getting antsy about the engine stopping and aquaplaning and the aforementioned idiots pushing their way from lane to lane to get maybe a five yard advantage.
We had also seen the weather forecast about this lasting all afternoon and getting worse in the evening. We knew that, because we had the dogs, if we got stuck we couldn't easily get a hotel room for overnight. (We've done this on occasion in the past.)
So we chickened out, and turned for home. That was fun too, with lots of water on the roads everywhere - but the back roads were much better than the main roads and we knew the back roads well enough to stay out of areas where we might have got stuck. It took an hour and ten minutes to drive less than fifteen miles...
Considering the amount of rain bucketing down outside right at this moment (and Bren wore his raincoat for only the second time in his life today) we made the right decision.
The amount of rain while walking the dogs suggested to us that the riding probably wasn't an option, so we phoned F and arranged to come at party time, but bring the riding gear with us in the hope of a 'lovely evening'.
At noon, we put the dogs in the car and started out for Canterbury environs.
Except that the rain came down harder and harder (parts of Essex had two inches in an hour) and by the time we hit the A127 we had spent most of the time with at least one side of wheels in three to five inches of water, and people driving like idiots on the A12 and the aforementioned A127.
The rain came even harder and we began to think not so much about getting to Kent but about coming back, and about the unmade roads we would have to negotiate in a car without four wheel drive. I was getting antsy about the engine stopping and aquaplaning and the aforementioned idiots pushing their way from lane to lane to get maybe a five yard advantage.
We had also seen the weather forecast about this lasting all afternoon and getting worse in the evening. We knew that, because we had the dogs, if we got stuck we couldn't easily get a hotel room for overnight. (We've done this on occasion in the past.)
So we chickened out, and turned for home. That was fun too, with lots of water on the roads everywhere - but the back roads were much better than the main roads and we knew the back roads well enough to stay out of areas where we might have got stuck. It took an hour and ten minutes to drive less than fifteen miles...
Considering the amount of rain bucketing down outside right at this moment (and Bren wore his raincoat for only the second time in his life today) we made the right decision.