Cycling England: Brighstone

My latest bicycle touring update: cycling in England, in Brighstone. What a night. I knew I should have left my tarp down last night. I should have known when I was putting it up that it was a bad idea. It was blowing all over the place. And at one point, I nearly lost it to the wind. I should have listened; somebody was trying to tell me something.

After an early supper, I decided to bed down. I knew it was going to be a stormy night. So, best get some sleep while I can. Haha, not a chance. What with the tarp flapping about and my usual sleeping problems, there was no chance. I don’t know what time it was, but it got so stormy, I packed everything away. Apart from my sleeping bag. Thinking that I might have to evacuate the tent at any moment. After packing away, I went outside in the wind and rain to evaluate the situation. And found out why things sounded so bad.

It Wasn’t As Bad as I First Thought

One of the guy rope tighteners on the tarp wasn’t locking. It had got itself tangled up and was loose. But after a bit of phaffing around, I managed to sort it out and tightened it back up. And after checking everything else out, I got back in the tent. An hour or so later, I could hear something else had come loose. This time, it was a peg, which had been pulled out of the ground. I’d only checked it when I was out earlier. But the ground where this peg was was particularly boggy. It took me several attempts to find a firm piece of ground where the peg would hold.

Back in the tent, another hour or so passed. And once again, I could hear something was loose and flapping around. This was getting rather boring now. Out I went into the wind and rain once more. It was that same peg. It had been pulled out of the ground again, along with a great big piece of turf. I decided that the tarp had to come down; the extra strain of the tarp was causing the peg to keep popping out.

That’s It, I’ve Had Enough

So, at 2 a.m., with the wind howling, I had a fight with the tarp to get it down. It wasn’t easy. I kept tripping over guy ropes, trying to hold onto the tarp. Some of the guy ropes had tightened onto the pegs, so I couldn’t just take the tarp off. I had to take the peg out of the ground, which was also securing the guy rope for the tent. I was then trying to hold onto the tent and tarp while trying to untangle the rope. What a nightmare.

Mind you, once the tarp was down, things were a lot quieter, and I managed to get some sleep. In fact, I didn’t even wake up until my alarm went off at 5.45. I’m normally awake and up by 4.30. Just as well I wasn’t going to go anywhere today.

I’ve not done much at all today. It took me a couple of hours this morning untangling the guy ropes on the tarp. I was in such a rush last night, I didn’t care. I just wanted it out of the way. I also dried it off before packing it away properly. I then went into the village to get supper and some lunch. And got caught in the only shower we’d had all morning! I was going to go down to the beach, but it’s been rather showery this afternoon, so I haven’t been anywhere.

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