The day started brightly and we were on the road by just after 7. Saying goodbye to Hood River was not easy as we have grown rather fond of the place in the last few days. However all good things come to an end and only death and taxes remain eternal.
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Day 14: Day off in Hood River
This is written by David. With my back muscles still objecting to any form of exercise we took a day off in Hood River. It turned out to be a US-style version of Bewdley and hence an excellent place to while away a little time. There is a river (the Columbia) which is a bit bigger than the Severn. Well massively bigger in fact. Water sports – here windsurfing and sailing on the river – and we have rowing at home. Forests – the town is surrounded by forests just as in Bewdley. Hills – well we have then in Bewdey but not as big as the mountains that surround Hood River, and in particular the wonderful Mount Hood. And it had cool restaurants – maybe not as cool as the Vhujon but Hood River cannot have everything after all. Continue reading Day 14: Day off in Hood River
Day 13. Swift Creek Reservoir to Hood River
This is written (mainly) by Bernie: 64 miles
I woke in our little wooden cabin to the sound of groaning and David saying he couldn’t move. His back had stiffened up during the night. A dose of anti-inflammatories and a helping hand up and luckily it loosened up although I felt a little uncertain whether he would make it cycling at all yet alone over the 3000 foot pass we had on today’s route. Continue reading Day 13. Swift Creek Reservoir to Hood River
Day 12: Mount Ranier to Swift Creek Reservoir
Day 12 : 74 miles and loads of climbing.
We have been asked to explain who the “I” is in this blog. Well we are both contributing but also alternating. So this “I” is David but it is Bernie whose bottom has been objecting to days in the saddle. They all laughed at my old fashioned Brooks leather saddle but it has proved its weight in gold so far.
Day 11: A sort of “Rest day” at Mount Ranier National Park with a walk to the Mount Fremont Lookout.
First good thing about today – we did not wake at 5.30 and in fact we slept in until about 7. We are both getting used to the tent as a place to live and can cope with the tiny space – and the fact that everywhere else has voracious mossies in large numbers. We are both covered in bites but there is little we can do about it, and it does little to detract from this adventure.
Day 10. Windy Point campground to Mount Ranier.
Yesterday evening met Ellen and Ken from Oregon at the campground. Attracted by their ingenious small sleeping pod that they were towing we started conversation as seems so easy when camping. Before we knew it we were sitting by the campfire drinking red wine and eating chocolate. Liberal minded democrats they gave us further insight into the american nation and in return I hope we gave them some good tips on what to visit in London when they will be there for a few days later in the year. Continue reading Day 10. Windy Point campground to Mount Ranier.
Day 9: Ellensburgh to Windy Creek Campsite
Stats for the day: 62 miles; 1950 ft of climbing; 3046 calories
The alarm went at 5.30 although that now seems pretty usual for us. I don’t think we have been awake after 10 any evening of this trip. When we are camping we pretty much seem to follow the daylight hours and so an early start makes sense. Packing is easy in a hotel room although it was a little crowded with both of our bikes and all the panniers in the room. Continue reading Day 9: Ellensburgh to Windy Creek Campsite
Day 8: Ingalls Creek to Ellenburgh Jazz
Day 8: 46 miles
A 5.30 alarm woke us from our best sleep yet – probably because it was cooler and the first night I actually cuddled into the sleeping bag. We were packed up and off by 6.30 and straight into uphill. Even at that time there was a fair amount of traffic on the main road but after 6 miles we were able to turn off onto the old Blewett Pass road.
Day 7: Lake Chelan State Park to Ingalls Creek
Stats for the day: 57 miles; 2700 feet of climbing and 3200 calories
We started the day with a tough 500 feet climb immediately out of the campsite. There was no time to warm up at all, but the good part was that we very quickly got great views of the lake.
Day 6: Winthrop to Lake Chelan.
Stats for the day: 73 miles; 1950 feet of climbing; 3200 calories
Up at 6 and we were on the road by 6.45. The weather cool at that hour and the mountains looking beautiful in the early light. Carolyn rode the first few miles with us before last goodbyes then we wound our way gently down the Methow valley criss crossing the beautiful Methow river.
Day 5: Rest day in Windthrop
We spend today today in the wonderful town of Windthrop, which is made out to look like a “wild west” town with clapboard frontages and a frontier feel to it. In the winter it is a centre for cross country skiing with hundreds of miles of prepared trails around the town. The scenery was stunning in the summer but it must be breathtaking in the winter.
Day 4: Colonial Creek to Winthrop
The day of big climbs: 68 miles, 4550 ft of climbing; 4200 calories
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Day 3: No vegetables until Thursday
The stats for day 3 were 58 miles/2650 ft climbed/2850 calories
David woke early and had a splendid hour reading whilst the day emerged. The dawn chorus of birds was impressive and the forest was lovely. Last night we went for a walk down by the river Skagit, which at this point is a wide flowing river. There are salmon in the river, deer in the woods and the rainforest was covered in moss. It was atmospheric and reminded me of the rain forest near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania.
Day 2: Abbottsfield to Raser State Park
Today was a simply brilliant day. We started by waking up at about 4 because of the jet lag – but then to be fair we had been in bed by 8 so that meant about 8 hours solid sleep. We faffed around to try to sort IT things, including DropBox which we think we may have got to work but the jury remains out. Kit was sorted and generally we did all the things we needed to do to get on our way.
The start at Surrey King George Station
We arrived at Surey King George and this is just before we left to start the trip.
I confess to being quite nervous about this whole trip. I am just reading Mark Beaumont’s book “The Man who cycled the world”, which is about his attempt to beat the Guiness Book of Records record for cycling around the world. Apparantly they make up “rules” for this, one of which is that you have to cycle at least 18,000 kilometres going East all the time. He did it in 195 days, but that was when he was 24. I am over double his age, and we are just planning 2500 miles, which I suppose is about 4000k. The book is fine but he is perhaps a more accomplished cyclist than a writer. Also the pressures of trying to break the record meant that he was cycling an average of 100 miles a day. That meant he cycled through some great countries but saw very little of them because he needed to focus on the mileage. I wonder if there is a Guiness Book of Records record for either the slowest cycle around the world, possibly connected to the cycle trip with the most amusing anecdotes, or even the most decrepit former lawyer who attempted to cycle around the world! That would appeal to me more, apart from the “former bit” of course.
But back to our trip which feels like putting a toe back in the water of long distance cycling. The questions that whizz around in my brain are “Will I still enjoy it?”, “Is it too much for us now that we are in our 50s?” and “how far can I realy get each day without decent coffee?”. The last one is, of course, the mission critical issue but there is often good coffee in the most unlikely of places in the US and so that may be a nut we can crack.
We arrived in Vancouver and the bikes were there! So we did pedals and pumped up tyre, and put on paniers, much to the amusement of better dressed travellers. Then we took the city transit system to the outskirts of Vancouver and got off at the end of the line. We chatted to the station guard who could not quite believe that we were cycling all the way to Abbottsford (44 km) and tried to get a bus for us. But we cycled off and to our astonishment it all worked and we went along at a reasonable pace, although we were both quite tired as it seemed like evening to us.
The cycling was pretty mundane wide roads, lots of traffic and a bike path at th eside but it was a good way to warm up. We covered the 44km in about 3 hours and are now in the Best Western. Some things are the same the world over! Dinner was typical North American food (burger for me, salad for Bernie and both shared). Now read for bed as it is 3am according to our body clocks. We start for real in the morning.
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