Day 6. Oregon

After my sodden day on Tuesday, and the inability of Raymond to seduce me to stay more time than was absolutely necessary, I was pensive waking up on Wednesday morning. The weatherman had promised sunny with slight cloud, but how often can you trust the weatherman!



I had spent the evening drying all of my clothes over the slightly ageing radiator in my plywood motel room, and fortunately for me by the time Wednesday morning came both the sun was out and the clothes were dry. I was up an out by 9, which other than day 1 was the earliest I had managed to set off. As I cycled out of Raymond I felt completely justified in my decision. There is nothing there except for some wicker-like statues made out of wood. Odd. Still, it didn't take me long to get into my stride and set my aim for Astoria, and Oregan!

The days cycling was probably the best so far. Although the legs were slightly tired I managed to cover alot of ground and by lunchtime was optimistic I would hit Astoria by 2-2.30 in the afternoon. It would be nice not to have to cycle in the dark for at least one day! The hills were not too bad at all, and the highway not particularly busy either.

I had decided to stick with the most direct route again,which involved following the 101 onto highway 4, then joining up with the 401 before rejoining the 101 for the very last section - the Astoria-Megler bridge. I had just turned onto the 401, and seen a sign for Astoria which read 15 miles when something felt wrong. Everything was getting a bit bumpy, and as I looked down I noticed my back tyre was looking a little flat. Puncture number 1. Dealt with swiftly by an inner tube change (i'll fix the puncture when I get to Astoria). It wasn't a big problem at all but it didn't escape my thoughts that had it happened the day before, when I was sodden, I would not have found it so irrelevant to the progress!

With puncture fixed, and a 20 minute break to rest the legs in the process, I pushed on. Thinking I could still make Astoria by 3 if I was lucky (and there weren't too many more hills!) The scenery was the best so far and as I came down a hill the forestry cleared a little and I could see the Columbia river. Quite a sight. I knew I couldn't be far from the bridge if I could see the river. As I reached the bottom of the hill the road wound round and followed the river for a good 5 or 6 miles. Absolutely breathtaking. As I came out of one of the winding corners I caught sight of the bridge for the first time.

Now I've seen some pretty big bridges in my time, but this one dwarfed anything I had every been over or looked at in the flesh. I had been told it was almost 4 miles long, although didn't really appreciate quite how long that is. Especially as the last mile of it (or at least from the side I was coming from) was uphill. Very uphill! It was a bit of a struggle to get up, as 6 days of cycling felt very heavy on the legs! There wasn't alot of space between me and the traffic and there were lots of gaps between sections of the bridge that looked like they could swallow up my wheels... But the knowledge that I was due a rest day puxhed me on and as I got to the peak I let out a big sigh or relief, knowing I could freewheel all the way down the other side to what now feels like absolute luxury... the Holiday Inn, Astoria!

I managed to be a bit better with the pictures today, even getting a couple with me in. 53.22 miles on the speedo. And a nice round 350 miles on the odometer. Through Washington and into Oregan,. Not a bad day of cycling, even with a puncture. Looking forward to a rest day though!