October 8 - Day 142 (141.5) - You don't know what kind of day you will have, until evening. Sophocles

It definitely feels like we are getting nearer to winter when my way home includes the view in the picture. With only 8 and a half days to go after today, I really do hope I can complete it before the end of the month when the clocks change.

I got beeped at last night (and it wasn’t in support), just before I took this picture - which is I think the first time in the 4230 miles completed. I’d seen a car in the distant behind me but had pulled out (fluorescent jacket, lights and indicators) to move across to the layby on the opposite side of the road so that I could stop). Now this might not have been the best thing to do, even though it was clear, but I don’t think I can be completely blamed for the car behind me being the only one on the road without lights on and travelling I would predict at over 60 miles an hour. Anyway, I suspect they had already planned to overtake me at speed as it was a on a clear straight section, and so upsetting their plans clearly deserved one of those long and determined presses on the car horn.

I’ve said before that cycling a lot really makes you rethink how you drive but it also makes you rethink visibility both on the bike and in the car.. The number of cyclists I see dressed in black with no lights (and sometimes not even wearing helmets) made me really appreciate the kit I bought right at the start. As the car was dark blue, it easily blended into the evening landscape. Lights would definitely have helped everyone on the road but I suspect given its age and power, it would have automatic lights that turned on by sensor. Whether the lights were by choice or an over-reliance on technology (something that seems quite often in cars or online to take over from common sense), as the nights draw in, it’s worth everyone thinking, whether on foot, in a car or cycling, about how visible they are to each other. Pot holes have a habit of hiding in the shadows waiting to jump out at the unprepared cyclist but it would be good if the rest of us shared the responsibility of not doing the same to each other - me included.