The helpful doc confirmed the diagnosis of probable fractured but not displaced ribs, which will heal in time and bad muscle damage. He also gave a big thumbs down to carrying on cycling over mountain passes as an aid to recovery (which was pretty obvious after yesterday). Our ever helpful insurance company told us they would cover the medical fees but nothing else as I was not in hospital – so we are not coming home early at their expense!

 

 

Then Wayne and Doris Heigel (friends of Tom and Carolyn Sullivan of Windthorp for avid readers of this blog) who we were due to stay with in Bend, Oregan in a few days became the cavalry coming over the hill. They invited us to stay and heroically drove over to Goverment Camp to collect us. So we will spend the next week off our bikes, with part of the time with them and part exploring this wonderful part of the country without bikes, and fly back as originally planned. Such wonderful hospitality from the great community of cyclists is overwhelming but repeats what we have already experienced.

 

 

We still plan to come back in September to complete the ride – as we always planned – but will do so from Government Camp and not Klameth Falls as per the original plan. All that is if – and it is a modest if – my back heals as anticipated. However it is already showing signs of being better for not being asked to cycle up 5000 feet passes  – funny that!

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 →

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 :  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.

  Continue reading Day 12: Mount Ranier to Swift Creek Reservoir →

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.

Continue reading Day 11: A sort of “Rest day” at Mount Ranier National Park with a walk to the Mount Fremont Lookout. →

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. →

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 →

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.

Continue reading Day 7: Lake Chelan State Park to Ingalls Creek →

Continue reading Day 5: Rest day in Windthrop →

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.

Continue reading Day 3: No vegetables until Thursday →

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.

Continue reading Day 2: Abbottsfield to Raser State Park →