According to the news on telly last night, if it rains in the West of Scotland this weekend then it will cause 21 Billion midges to hatch.

I’d rather that didn’t happen, if i’m honest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-39858858/scotland-set-for-21-billion-biting-midges

^^^^ yeah, it has been great last few weeks with dry and dusty trails and no midges and very few ticks. It’s all about to change… 😯

It’s great in’t it!
Looking forward to tonight’s ride over some very cheeky Bowland moorland. The moors are wheel-deep bogs for 11 months of the year, so we’ll ride ’em while we can 😀
No rain just yet please.

Rain needed here, it’s so dry everything is crumbling and turning to dust.

That’ll keep the moaners happy.

Rainmoaners?

My local river (Tweed) is as low as I ever remember seeing it. The trails are fantastic

Dry as a nun’s chuff in Lancashire, won’t last

Yeah, the riding has been brilliant for a good while, but I think (well, I know) the environment needs a bit more water. At the end of April the 12 month rainfall was 77% of the long term average (for Thames Valley) which doesn’t sound so bad, but the past few months have been particularly dry. The main problem is in the south and east where there is so much pressure on water resources from the huge population.

‘Hosepipe ban’ is a 70s term, ‘Temporary Use Ban’ (TUB) is the industry term and it covers way more than this, and allows for all kinds of local control. I’d be happy with some regular (3 days a week?) but not too heavy rainfall, at night, with trails drying out in the day.

newrobdob – Member
I blame the lack of cold and hard frosts in winter. Lack of freezing means what water we had on the moor puddled rather than sank to the freezing level and has since evaporated (primarily via the wind rather than the sun one assumes). It takes a good few days of cold weather to get the ground frozen beyond the first inch or so.

Doesn’t make any difference. It’s just lack of water falling from the sky, simple.

Makes a difference when you are reliant on the moors for your water supply.

April and May have been very dry but less so before that. Our moors had standing water all over in areas where you never see it in a normal winter as it soaks in and saturates helped by the channels created when the ground freezes.

It’s now been burnt and blown off and the moor is drier than I’ve known it in the last 9 years and through longer periods of no rain..

According to the news on telly last night, if it rains in the West of Scotland this weekend then it will cause 21 Billion midges to hatch.

I’d rather that didn’t happen, if i’m honest.

😆

Dry trails are ace. Drought restrictions, not so much.

Fret not everybody, Spring Garden Show here in jolly old Malvern, be a downpour most of Friday and the rest of the weekend no doubt.

All I know is, innerleithen has turned into crumbly death. It only really grips when it’s damp

My local river (Tweed) is as low as I ever remember seeing it. The trails are fantastic

I can see the bottom of the eddlestone

Raining here now.

the local forecast for friday and sunday has gone from rain all day to virtually none at all. With the next weeks forecast as dry too.

Short but heavy showers here now. Dam you Milky.

What you want to worry about is next year. Most water companies should get through the summer but if it doesn’t rain and then the autumn is dry, they’ll be a whole world of trouble!

I came off earlier, not because of my lack of skills 😀 but because the ground was so Dusty my front wheel washed out. I am used to sticky wet ground. This dry stuff is all new to me 😆 roll on the rain tonight.

21 billion midges? Like every yeah, then?

It is sometimes really dry in Spring, but that can be due to really warm dry weather for a week or two. What’s unusual now is that it’s been particularly warm, but just not rained in ages. My bikes are all building up a nice collection of dust from various regions…even a mix of Wales and Cumbria – hardly places you associate with dust !

….and I’ve not washed the car in a month, and it’s also covered in dust. It looks like a Californian barn-find at the moment – very cool indeed !

Pimpmaster Jazz – Member

Raining here now.
not enough!

Rain update…..Epsom …..raining.

Just back from a ride in the new forest. First one in ages, on rigid singlespeed

Unvelievable; like **** concrete – even the bits that are normally bogs

Had to abandon a ride tonight – only the 2nd time I’ve done that in 12 years, heavens opened, thunder, Ark building weather suddenly.

Arsecakes

Been a bit wet round Elan for the last hour or so.

Torrential around Llandrindod area.

Had a great ride on dry hard fast trails Wednesday night.

Thanks Milky.

The last time I remember an extended drought, when it finally broke it rained non-stop for something like 6 months. It was utterly shit. This doesn’t even qualify, it’s only been dry for a few weeks so I have no idea why some are complaining.

not enough!

😆

Relax Scott, June is technically a monsoon month (relatively speaking). It’s got Glasto and the IoW Festival – traditional harbingers of doom (well, rain anyway).

Sick of the incessant rain updates.