Day 455
Harris Beach
In the morning we were up early, and as we headed to spend the morning at a laundry we bumped into Flo and Rebecca and made plans to see hopefully see them later. The route was getting better and better. Jaw dropping views of the sea, quieter roads, we were in heaven. We passed an area of coast line famous for the sea lions that live there, we could smell and hear them well before we saw them! The approach to Humbug Mountain campsite was magical, the trees and fauna created a solid wall on one side the sea on the other. With the sun blazing we knew this was a very special day. We met up with Nicola, and not only is she from the UK but she was born just 40 miles away from me. Robert, Flo and Rebecca were also there, plus several others we had all seen over the last few days. Friendships were being formed.
Now the Americans like things big and this morning they delivered on this with a massive statue of a dinosaur, well obviously I had to have my photo taken with it! It was another day of superlatives. Views to die for and pretty decent roads too. We rode across the Patterson Bridge, the in the USA to be built by a the then new method designed by French engineer Ernest Freyssinet. Very beautiful it is too.
We sat at the Bay looking back to the bridge besides the remains of the Mary D Hume, a small tug boat. Built on Gold Beach back in 1881 it was to be in service for 97 years, and it sits today for us weary cyclists to admire. Onwards, more awesome rocks sat out in the sea along the coast. One had been worn away over the years and formed an arch attracting thousands of visitors, so obviously we stopped to.
As the last week had progressed a strong bond had formed. Robert, Flo, Rebecca, Nicola and ourselves decided to meet us at Harris Beach hiker-biker and have a party. Beers, crisps, wine and cider bought we ignored the rain and chatted late into the night. There was even a moonlight swim but I’d headed to bed long before!
The following day no one was in the mood to carry on cycling so we stayed put. Tom spent the day taking photos, Nicola and I went shopping and I replaced my long worn out trainers with a pair from the local Goodwill store. They looked to be unworn and I was very thrilled with my purchase until I realised they were exactly the same make and model as Tom’s. Matching!
Tom and I had decided we really needed to update the blog as the last post had us lost in the woods with bears and we guessed someone (thanks Niall) might be wondering how we were getting on. So this would be goodbye to our gang.
