I had every intention of doing a fondo today. The forecast had promised a dry, sunny day with a moderate wind coming from the east. A perfect opportunity for my beloved eastbound fondo route, to Eastwell crossroads and back
I set off after 1100, to give conditions a chance to warm up a bit. The weather was beautifully bright and sunny. But six kilometres later, just after I passed Thringstone, I saw a patch of fog up ahead. It was as though a cloud had landed, about half a klick in front of me. I assumed I’d pass through it quickly enough and emerge back into the bright sunshine a few minutes later, but nope – I was still cloaked in fog 25 kilometres later.
I’d worked out a slightly different route, avoiding Burton on the Wolds and taking in Walton on the Wolds to the south instead. Done it a couple of times before. After Walton, visibility improved substantially. I’d been making a mental note of distant objects emerging from the bright, white curtain of fog in the distance, then measuring the distance to them with my watch. A couple of km further back it had been down to about 150 metres, now it was more like 400. Luxury. But another few km further on, it was down to about 80 metres and I started to feel unsafe. I put the rear light on and turned back, with 41km done.
Despite the fog the sun was really bright. Apart from being a bit colder than I expected, the conditions weren’t uncomfortable. Just dangerous.
I took a wrong turn at Paudy Crossroads and found myself in Seagrave, but I stopped at the bench there for an impromptu lunch. Here, I was completely out of the fog, there was no sign of it. But by the time I got back to Cotes, it was back (or I was back in it), albeit not as thick as it had been earlier. The sun had finally managed to burn it off by the time I got back over the Leicestershire border.
I took a longer route home through Long Whatton and Diseworth. I did ponder tacking on another 11km to make it a fondo, but it was starting to get dark and I was already colder than I was supposed to be.
Back about 10 mins after sunset, on 88.79km. Listened to 5 Live and another couple of hours of my audiobook about the collapse of Yugoslavia. Shocking.
I do like that alternative route through Walton. It adds about a klick and a half, and some climbing. But it’s a nice change.