The rain started to fall less than half-way into the 200-mile trip: so much for believing the weather forecast – after more than 50 years of living in the British Isles you’d think I’d know better! My vision of returning to serious biking in endless sunshine after a year’s break ended in a service area on the M40.

The plan had been to ride from Woking, the bike’s normal garaging place, to Stockport, where we live. On Sunday, the following Wednesday looked dry and warm-ish, according to BBC Weather. By Tuesday night my wife and I were committed to travelling the next day, but whatever had been brewing in the Atlantic for Thursday brewed a little faster and brought heavy rain by midday Wednesday.

The day started well enough. It felt truly wonderful to be back on two wheels after my enforced layoff. The bike had a fresh tank of 97-octane unleaded and was running far more smoothly than the day I’d put it back on the road. My brand new Shoei Neotec 2 helmet was comfortable and quiet at first, but after about 90 minutes it started biting into the top of my head.

The rain started to spit down as I pulled into the service area to have some lunch and don waterproofs. I couldn’t find any obvious reason for the helmet issue so headed off again, planning to ride cross-country towards Derby to pick up the A50 and then the A515 through the Pennines – much more fun on a bike than the dreary M6. My wife, following an hour behind me in the car, discovered the route and always prefers it, too.

We’d treated ourselves to the luxury of built-in Sena headsets after years of grappling with the wires of an Autocom system. However, you need to study the leaflet well to sort out the combination of three buttons and how long you press each one to get radio, phone, intercom or satnav – and my leaflet was in the car with most of our stuff.

My Garmin would ensure I found my way home – I’d only travelled this route as a car passenger and wasn’t entirely familiar with it – but one of the reasons I’d spent a small fortune on two Sena units was to have the audio feed from the sat-nav. I pulled over into a lay-by and fiddled with the buttons: was it centre button for on, then five seconds holding down centre and the + button together for sat-nav? I was rewarded with some encouraging beeps and set off again, with Alexa’s cousin giving me route information.

The rain got heavier, but the pleasant Pennine roads provided plenty of diversion. It just felt so good to be riding again. By the time I reached home, I’d made a few discoveries: my Alpinestars riding boots, which are about 12 years old, were no longer waterproof, despite their Gore-Tex lining; neither was my Rukka jacket, which had kept me warm and dry these past 17 years but was now letting water in around the stomach area; and my new helmet was definitely digging into the crown of my head.

The boots and jacket are probably overdue for replacement, and I’ll do that in due course, but the helmet was a worry. I’d just spent something in excess of £700 on the lid and headset, and what had seemed fine in the showroom was now a disappointment. I get my riding gear mostly from Motolegends in Guildford, and have always found them excellent, so I dashed off an email next morning. Help!

They’d recommended the Shoei over Schuberth, which I’d had for my last two helmets, saying it would better suit my skull shape. I’d opted for a slightly larger lining for greater comfort, but that allows the helmet to sit every so slightly lower on the head. The larger insert also has less padding on top, and that was causing the harder internal centre rib to dig in. They dispatched a replacement liner and a sponge-like skull pad by first-class post. The pad slips between the helmet shell and the inner lining, and it works a treat.

Despite heavy rain, painful helmets and leaking waterproofs, it still felt wonderful to be back in the saddle. All we needed now was a few days of sunshine and maybe we could go camping…