Almost offed by a gaggle of piglets!

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SpaCyclist

Well-Known Member
I normally feel quite lucky that the majority of my cycling is along country lanes in North Yorkshire, avoiding the perils of heavy traffic and other hazards faced by those brave souls who set forth on their bikes in the city.

Today I received a reminder that the most benign of circumstances can hide potential problems. Picture the scene - me cycling along a quiet lane enjoying the sunshine. I spot what appears to be some discarded clothes in an area of shadow near a stream. As I approach the clothes start to move - not a good sign - and resolve into half a dozen multi coloured piglets by the side of the road.

These piglets are young, and clearly had not been told that if they stayed still, I would ride past them. They were clearly also both very stupid and uninformed about the green cross code as they decided to run directly across the road towards me rather than away from me. I have no idea how they all missed me and the bike. I swear one shot between my front and back wheel. They disappeared into a field, and I was left thinking about how we would both have fared if I had hit one.

The whole episode was totally surreal. The piglets didn't make any noise apart from the scrabbling of feet. There was no evidence of a farmhouse or fields of pigs next to the road - so where did they come from?

You can see my route on the following Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/252599025. For anybody else who cycles this part of North Yorkshire, the danger area was near Marton-cum Grafton.

Has anybody else had any similar strange encounters?
 
Did they look like this? Maybe they were wild boar?

wild_boar_piglets___4420_by_jaded_paladin-d46dzgf.jpg
 

MikeW-71

Veteran
Location
Carlisle
I've nearly copped a Pheasant in the face twice, stupid things.

Then there was the one that walked out of my way on a hill, then ran alongside me for the next 60 yards :huh:. I sped up, so did he, I slowed down again, so did he until he suddenly got bored and stopped.

Absolutely no idea why he did this....
 

Julia9054

Guru
Location
Knaresborough
Had to stop and help a farmer herd some escaped sheep back into a field by waving my bike at them on my ride up above Uppermill on Saturday. Quite surreal.
It was a relief to stop and get off tbh - the hill was so steep, my lungs were threatening to leap out of my throat and strangle me by this point!
I cycle through Marton cum Grafton all the time . . . will be looking out for piglets from now on.
 
That's certainly novel and I hope I don't come across a farrow of piglets whilst on my bike. The major hazard around here is sheep, which wander the roads and have a habit of standing grazing at the very edge of them for some reason, which takes up quite a lot of a single-track road. Failing to alert them and make them look up as you approach can lead to them being startled and leaping in a random direction, which could be .... fairly unfortunate. I've taken to shouting something like 'Hello sheep' at them, though this 'greeting' does tend to degrade considerably after a few passes. Talking to sheep usually induces a bemused or sympathetic look on the rare occasions when there's a human within earshot :rolleyes:
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
Came a cross a pigeon once - just sat in the road looking up at me cycling downhill towards it.

Thinks....
Which way shall I go ?
If I turn and he goes same way he could go through spokes which would not be good.
Aha, I know, If I aim straight for him he'll be flying away from me when he does make a break for...


Crunch.....
 

fimm

Veteran
Location
Edinburgh
I, too, have been advised to alert sheep to my prescence. I tend to just go "sheeeeeeeeeeeeep" like my friend does.
Some sheep seem to be more acustomed to bikes than others. If I seem to be in a bike friendly flock, I stop making "sheeeeeeeeeeep" noises.
I once startled one right into the path of my boyfriend (who was in front of me). (He did avoid it.) I don't make "sheeeeeeeeep" noises when I'm cycling with him any more...
 
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