I ride along with no plan other than to travel south.
Washington disappears under my wheels quickly, leaving me with only a series of flickering hazy images of impoverished hamlets – small groups of houses in various states of dilapidation, surrounded by pick up trucks and rusting car bodies. After 80 miles, late in the afternoon [...]
My first flat tyre is something of an anti-climax. I have been dreading a puncture because, impossible though it may seem, I haven’t needed to repair one since I was about nine-years-old.
On this trip alone, over five thousand kilometres have flowed under my wheels without incident but as I take off after a short roadside [...]
I set off from Babs and Dennis’ place after a three day respite from the road and start to head south down the Washington Coast. Babs and Dennis offer to drive me from their place to the highway but I am eager to get on my bike. After we say our goodbyes, I ride the [...]
Also taggedThe rainy Pacific Northwest provides perfect growing conditions for funghi. Here are a few intriguing examples I saw in the forest around Forks.
Some, perhaps, are edible while others are definitely not. I wouldn’t, given my current state of knowledge, risk eating any of these. Please feel free to correct any error of identification or contribute [...]
By morning, the weather has cleared and Babs, Dennis and I set off to explore the area around Forks.
Cape Flattery is the north-western corner of the Washington Peninsula and it is a dramatic, beautiful coastline. We drive along a coastal road that passes through Neah Bay, home to the Makah people. We walk on a [...]
We arrive at Babs and Dennis’ house which is a short distance outside of Forks to the north-west of town. After sorting out my wet tent and gear, I have a shower, throw my filthy and sodden clothes into the washing-machine and, then, retire for a nap.
Babs is involved in the local Quileute native community [...]
I break camp in the morning and cycle on dedicated tarmac bike paths through gentle bucolic countryside. The sun is shining and I share the path with other cyclists, dogs and dog walkers, roller-bladers and other people enjoying the crisp clear early autumn air.
I stop at an information centre to pick up the cycle maps [...]
On Monday morning, I ride out of Seattle, thankfully with considerably less trouble than I had riding into the city, to catch another ferry, this time from Edmonds to Kingston on the Washington Peninsula.
On the peninsula, the small towns I pass through are reminiscent of scenes from Twin Peaks and I find it slightly disturbing. [...]
Loose connections unravel easily and I find my original plans for Seattle disintegrate suddenly. I arrive in the city, trying to traverse freeways on a poorly sign-posted urban bike trail, and wonder why I am here. I realise that I don’t want to be in the city and I have no real reason to be. [...]
Also tagged autumn, city life, hospitality