The weather - part 1

I know it is a terrible cliche, but I am English and the English do like to talk about the weather. Perhaps not quite as much as they once did, but the weather is still at least the second most popular subject for aimless small talk among strangers.

The reason that the weather is the subject of endless speculation in England is probably explained by its entirely unpredictable nature. Other countries are colder, have more snow, are warmer or have more rain, but it is usually predictable. In England it is sometimes a bit cold, or snows a little, or rains, or even (but very rarely) it is quite warm. Often it is all of these things in a single day (usually in August); but it is never predictable.

So, in case you haven't already guessed, this was my half-hearted attempt at an introduction to a distinctly weather-themed post. Sorry.

Last Friday I managed to sneak out at lunch time for a quick ride on the Bianchi. It didn't seem too  bad when I left the house; cold and a bit windy, but not bad. But I wasn't starting from the house, because I only had a couple of hours and I wanted to ride on a road I hadn't been on before. So I had engineered a lift to a suitable starting point that gave me a route of just under 30 miles back to the house.

We went up over the moor at Plenmeller and it was foggy. And I hadn't brought a light for the bike (I don't really own a light for the Bianchi, but that isn't really the point). Or a hi-vis vest thing (and I do own one of these). So I just assumed it would clear by the time we got to where I planned to start.

When we got to place where I planned to start cycling I decided that the fog was bound to clear once I had gone a mile or two. When I got out of the car I noticed how cold and windy it was; this surprised me as I assumed "foggy" meant "still", because shouldn't the wind just blow the fog away? But it was hard to deny that it was very windy, quite cold and foggy. So, obviously I set off anyway.

I went up the hill, and then down past Eals to the Alston to Brampton road, and at last the fog cleared a bit. This road seems quite flat in the car, but is actually "rolling", and it seemed impossible to find the right gear, or to get into a rhythm. I was quite glad to get to Alston, but the turn onto the cobbled and steep main street was hamperd by two cars attempting U turns (or something). I thought the first was parking, so went to go past it, and it pulled out to drive up the hill. I had to unclip as I thought I might need to stop, and what with the new pedals and cleats, couldn't clip back in. I came to a halt, tried to set off again, failed to get momentum and clip in, and had no choice but to walk up the polished cobbles in my ludicrously slippery new cleats.

I was then forced to buy a hot cross bun from the Moody Baker to make amends for this inglorious performance. I ate it while trying to look less of a prat than I was feeling, and it was good.

At the top of the hill I got back on the bike without incident and headed towards Nenthead. I have never cycled up this road, but the section beyond Nenthead is always populated with walking C2Cers in the summer. These people usually have nobbly shod MTBs, which on the one hand might mean they will have lots of low gears, and if they have to walk then I will definitely be wearing down the rest of my new cleats. On the other hand it might mean that they don't really know what they are doing.

Surprisingly I rolled through Nenthead and up the other side quite easily, then turned off towards Allendale via Carrshield, and into the fog. This time it wasn't clearing, and I was probably completely invisible. But I just had to keep going, despite the lack of visibility from the fog and my misted glasses, and the wind, now blowing hard.

I managed to get home in one piece, mostly this was luck; there weren't many cars about. Descending was genuinely scary, I couldn't really see, but I know the road was full of potholes, and it is steep, and bendy. So I went very slowly, and in the end it was fine. I might not choose that route again in the mist, though...