A dry evening was promised, and I mounted the Tricross about 25 minutes before sunset. I wanted to do about 40, and the plan was to go up through Coleorton, over Swarkestone Bridge then along the Beloved Flat A Road for a bit.
However not long after I set off I decided I’d take the longer route to Swarkestone Bridge via Top Brand and Isley Walton.
A light drizzle started about a mile after I’d set off, but it only lasted three minutes. Nice and dry all the way after that. Really lovely out there just after sunset, and a full moon provided a bit of illumination on the stretches of road that would usually be pitch black, later on.
A few miles out from Willington on the outward leg, a van pulled up alongside me. The driver then parked up on the road. I stopped in the queue of cars behind him, waiting to pass when I noticed the driver get out. He was walking toward me.
He came up to me and wanted to know if I was going far, and did I know my rear light was very faint? Now I must admit I was using a pretty shitty little strappy flasher, only to run the battery down so I could put a new one in and have it as a spare. I did think it was adequate quite honestly, but nonetheless I thanked him and put the main rear light on; an undeniably bright, high performing AAA-powered unit. He seemed to ignore this completely. Would I like to put the bike in the back of his van, so he could give me a lift somewhere? He wanted to know. He just wanted to make sure I didn’t have an accident, he said.
By this point I was fairly sure he was taking the piss, and much as I was tempted to give it back I decided that the best course of action to defuse the situation was to accept his concern at face value, thank him sincerely and assure him that I’d be fine. I gave him a friendly wave as he passed, a minute or two later. Wanker.
Mostly listened to the Reacher audiobook until (annoyingly) the MP3 player ran out of juice. Then I listened to Lard on 6 Music. Earlier I listened to 5 Live but it was non-stop race-baiting; the cricket controversy of course. Earlier this month the BBC took Michael Vaughan off the air, supposedly to protect their impartiality and yet Rafiq, despite having made serious allegations, has been invited to repeat them ad nauseam without being challenged or held to account for a moment.
Back on 47.24 miles, a few more than I intended for a change.