I rode up to Brough (near Hull) for a forum ride, did the ride the following day and rode back the next day after that. Does that count as a tour?
Does if you want it to. Good ride, whatever you label it ;-)
Just a short tour down from the east Midlands to near-Brighton. I like doing shorter tours with get-out options on trains or just by not moving for a day....i find it makes me feel better than having to ride through rain.
Agreed riding through the rain is sub-optimal, especially if not going to one's home comforts for recuperation. Still have to work up the confidence to try trains - I have this vision of all the spaces being taken unless you book 3 years in advance.
I can live with riding through rain but don't like breaking camp in the rain. The reason why on my recent suffolk. Norfolk jaunt i stayed put for four days instead of the planned two. Made for some hard riding on other days. But all worked out fine. I find it usually does.
Collapsing a wet tent is not good but I find erecting a wet one is worse as if its still raining it doesn't dry out and everything feels damp. If I suspect I'm going to have to do that I make sure I have a supply of paper towels. I collapse the inner first from under the flysheet, drying it as best I can. It shouldn't be wet anyway if the flysheet is doing its job, but the groundsheet almost certainly will be. Then collapse the flysheet having dried it from the inside first.
As well as sticking put for a rainy day, I sometimes book into a hostel that evening, if one can be found. I do my prep and mark up touring scale maps for every day with campsites before and beyond my intended stopping points, plus hostels with contact information. YHA always have drying rooms in my experience, but independents are more patchy.