West Coast 2018

44 miles A much shorter day – we took our time all day. Apparently taking it easy every now and then is really enjoyable- who knew? A late start (8.45) followed by a look at the shipwreck  ‘The Peter Iredale’ circa 1900 on the beach. We headed off to a town called Seaside 19 miles south, in the sea (you’ve got to take your hat off to the imagination the pioneers had in their naming of towns). We had planned to hire boards and go for a surf here, but it was overcast, the water cold, and the surf wasn’t great so we had a slap up breakfast instead. We made sure we wouldn’t be left without food again so stocked up in the local supermarket. The afternoon ride of 25 miles was beautiful – with clear blue skies and fine views.  The hills to get the fine views weren’t so great. We arrived at our campsite - the hiker biker site at Nehelam Bay State Park then set off to the beach for a swim -  OMG the water is cold here! I made it to my stomach then gave up –S

71 miles The shop at Raymond that we bought our ingredients for our evening meal last night had an extensive stock of lagers, fizzy drinks, canned food, chocolate and crisps. Unfortunately it had almost nothing that we could use to make a healthy meal. We ended up buying two tins of chicken chowder and easy cook rice. It was horrible but the cold six pack of lager made up for it... For breakfast this morning we ate our last two cereal bars and an apple each. In the hope that we’d find a nice diner in the first 20 miles or so. After thirty miles we gave up and finished our snacks – some peanuts and chocolate. By the time we reached Astoria (58 miles) I was considering eating my own leg. We were ready to eat almost anything. After cycling past McDonald’s and KFC we found a a place that did Mexican tacos which went down a treat. We found an ice cream shop (as you’d expect the single scoop is about half a litre of ice cream) – all the better for having been so hungry. Tonigh