amaferanga wrote:Well that sounds like pretty unusual weather for the end of May. I only had heavy rain most days.
Still, given typical UK summer weather, it's not really as big an undertaking as this example suggests. Many, many people manage in 5 days or less without it being a drama or an ordeal.
If you are cycling the length of the country you should be prepared for very nasty weather at any time of year. Doing the London-Edinburgh-London audax in 2009 I developed mild hypothermia due to gale-force winds, torrential rain and temperatures of 5c in the Scottish borders and Pennines, but managed to ride through it. Several others weren't so lucky and had to be hospitalised. Many riders abandoned. This was in July, so the height of a British "summer".
As Mick rightly says, no amount of planing and training can save you from the elements and you need some luck to complete fast rides. On both my rides i was prepared to bail if things turned nasty, and there would have been no shame in that.
BTW if you can cite examples of some of the "many, many people" who've completed 4 or 5-day end2ends in spite of atrocious weather (at any time of year) I'd be interested in reading their accounts!