Always dark

Last week

As I was on a course in London last week I didn't cycle to the station everyday. I drove in on Monday and Thursday as my wife was not at work and I could therefore take the car.

When I did cycle, I had to get up at 5:30am so that I could get the early train at 7:15am. it took me about 35 minutes to cycle the 8.5 miles to the station but it was very dark at that time of the morning. On the way back it was about 6:30pm so it was also dark on my return.

Remembering what had happened the previous week I had to be very careful as it was very icy, and my back wheel was skidding quite a few times.

On Friday, I was tired from the course and all the travelling though the week and I was riding on autopilot. We had finished earlier so I managed to get back to Cambridge by 5:30 so it was just getting dark, so I decided to go home the longer way.

It is on windy roads without any road lights but I thought I would be OK as it was not dark yet. In the 15 minutes it took me to cycle from the station to the roads with no street lights the sun had gone completely but I had no choice, I had to continue. I have good lights on my bike, I was wearing a high-visibility back pack and a reflective harness, so it was not too bad. Although the roads that I used were very long and out of the way I was surprised how much fast traffic it had. I just took it very carefully and it was not too bad, thankfully there were only cars on that road and I was obviously visible enough. I will not do that route again after dark, it is not worth it.