I love my commute to my 'other' place of work.
It mostly consists of quiet roads and the Trans Pennine Trail.
I have written about small parts of my route which are annoyances, but not insurmountable.
But a recent incident has troubled me and kept me off my bike longer than it should. I am hoping that, as it often the case, a blog post on the subject, can be a cathartic process and hopefully clear my mind and get me back out on two wheels.
My route, once I venture across the Mersey, gets to this point. Just before here is a large rubbish dump and the only traffic that uses this bridge seems to be bin lorries.
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Crossing the bridge on the RHS, Is a large brick yard. Lorries often queue here, as I presume space inside is limited and it would be dangerous for so many HGV's to operate in such a small space.
Coming back towards the roundabout on my return journey, there were (I think) two lorries parked outside, waiting to go in.
I suppose, with hindsight, I should have stopped and carried on along the pavement. There are no pedestrians around here really. I don't think I have ever seen one. But hindsight is a wonderfully exact science. I continued, careful to give myself room and ensuring there was no oncoming traffic.
Then I am not too sure what happened. I can only presume, either a lorry had come over the bridge that I hadn't spotted early on. Or that a lorry turned right out of the brickyard.
But I found myself on the hatching with a lorry on either side of me.
I am sure neither driver knew I was there.
Now I am not suggesting the usual "get out of jail" card motorists play. The lorry certainly did not come from out of nowhere.
But on the right-hand side of a stationary HGV overtaking, it is perfectly possible that I did not see another lorry turning right from the brick yard.
Almost all cyclists will have either an accident or at least a close shave at some point. With the recent spate of cyclists going under lorries etched into my mind, this close shave has really shaken me.
Now how to get back on the metaphorical horse?
