Each day the message got steadily clearer that Friday was not going to be a good cycling day. By Thursday evening, our phones had jangled with an official “do not travel” message (three times on my phone, for no obvious reason) because of unusually strong winds all day in southern Scotland. We took the hint and didn’t even open our front door for the whole day. It seems that most people heeded the warnings, so despite the extreme conditions there were mercifully few serious incidents.