FNRttC Friday Night Ride to the Coast - Burnham-on-Crouch 26th October

[Steve Jones]

The badger! THE BADGER! We were going down Old Stock Road at about fifteen miles an hour, and a badger runs out of the hedge on the left hand side, runs in front of my bike, and then tries to outrun me down the road about two feet in front of my wheel for what seemed like an age but was probably three to five seconds. It then shoots right into the hedge. So........my thoughts go something like....'cat...rabbit....really big rabbit.......s***, badger......wow, badgers are big.......why is it doing that.......STUPID BADGER......brake gently.........wow, s*** man, that was scary'.

Anybody got any idea about the flashes of light?

I was behind Simon when he encountered the badger. I was also right behind when he shouted "easy", an inadequate term for hauling on the anchors as an East Ender wandered into the road without looking. Clearly it's up at the sharp end where the dangerous encouters occur. The flashing lights I'd thought were just me and a symptom of lack of sleep. Glad to see if it was hallucinations, I wasn't alone.

 

[dellzeqq]

Steve - I'd forgotten the wandering pedestrian! That's the great thing about these threads - all the stuff I forget turns up sooner or later.

 

[User10571]

Did anyone recommend she register here?

This forum may, or may not, have been mentioned as an informal portal and an alternative to the strict formality of the FNRttC blog....

 

[User10571]

I think you are getting confused, it was proper fox,

not a flying one.

TBH - I thought that which was about to be bacon-sliced courtesy of my aero spokes was more akin to a weasel (not diesel) or stoat - both much smaller than renard, as we know him.

 

[thom]

Flying Dodo and I talked about the flashing lights, going through a few theories:

1) I was happy with my idea about headlight beams from a road passing through gaps in trees/vehicles coming round bends. But as we crossed the dual carriageway, the flashes persisted so, what with the light being pretty white and not that of yellowish headlights we discounted it
2) tall building light for plane avoidance - There were no tall buildings to avoid...
3) airport runway flightpath beacons - Stansted was 30 miles away and the flashes too infrequent
4) electric sparks from a train on a railway line - there were no railways

We settled on Flying Dodo's good idea
5) a Lighthouse beam ! Potentially it's visibility extended due to reflection from low clouds.

 

[dellzeqq]

I think it was lightning. The intervals were too random to be a lighthouse and they were coming from southsouthwest

 

[User10571]

I reckon thunderstorms, out at sea.
There were sufficient vagaries of the weather to cause rainbows and squally showers after daybreak - so why not thunderstorms, at a distance?

 

[User10571]

I think it was lightning. The intervals were too random to be a lighthouse and they were coming from southsouthwest

I'm with DZ on this one.
EDIT: Nothing else lights up the sky to that extent.

 

[thom]

5) Are there any in the vicinity?

Ummm, according to this map, the nearest ones are at Broadstairs and just south of Aldeburgh, so maybe it's not such a great theory now...
3) potentially

 

[thom]

I reckon thunderstorms, out at sea.
There were sufficient vagaries of the weather to cause rainbows and squally showers after daybreak - so why not thunderstorms, at a distance?

Could be - I don't know the direction we were going in but I do remember one flash towards dawn coming from 10.30 with respect to our direction of travel, appearing to be below a cloud...
So unless we were going west at that point we disagree with magnetic bearing but it's still a goer theory - we did come across damp roads later on in the ride.

 

[Tim Hall]

I think it was lightning. The intervals were too random to be a lighthouse and they were coming from southsouthwest

I told a nice blonde lady riding a Spesh Ruby is was special Essex lightning, the sort that doesn't have thunder with it.

I'm not sure if she believed me though.

 

[TimO]

I've seen (or heard) both lightning and thunder independent of each other. My thought was also lightning. It was clearly the sort of night where there could be the occasional very localised cloudburst, as evidence by the wet roads, so a but of lightning somewhere away from us, wasn't totally implausible.

The only occasion I've ever seen such bright flashes, that proved to be attributable to something aside from lightning, was when I was a student, and whilst having massive snow balls fights on campus, the sky was randomly illuminated by flashes of light. That was the so called "Ghost Trains", that were run along the lines, to keep the third rail clear of snow and ice, so that trains would be able to run on the following morning. This doesn't seem a likely cause on this occasion, mainly due to the lack of snow!

 

[dellzeqq]

our first wet ride, which, if I recall, was in the spring of our second year, we saw flashes in the distance as we approached Coulsdon. I explained to the worriers amongst us that this was flashes off the railway line. When we got to Portnalls Road the water was half inch deep.......

 

[Davywalnuts]

Have you noticed how few punctures we have when Davy is with us? Spooky.....

Ever done a head count at the end? Or, wondered why I look bloated at brekkie?

I do love a good Chianti....

 

[martint235]

Ever done a head count at the end? Or, wondered why I look bloated at brekkie?

I do love a good Chianti....

I thought it was just cos you stuffed yourself with chips....... well minus the ones that me and Charlie got thanks to them being delivered to our table first.