by Liz
It’s been another sunny, blue sky day in Washington state and a beautiful afternoon’s riding. After sharing some of Christine’s amazing cookies with the staff at the bike shop, we left at 1 and headed north. The I-5 was busy for the first few miles but we weren’t on it, following instead a much quieter parallel road. Most of the houses here are weatherboarded and painted pretty shades of blue, green or grey. Some have a rocking chair on the front porch.
We stopped for lunch beside a small lake at Ferndale. It was peaceful and two herons came in to join the lone fisherman. A freight train passed nearby, sounding its harmonious blast, a sound that’s so typical in America and unheard of in the UK.
32 miles later we found that what last night’s accommodation lacked in size and beauty, today’s makes up for abundantly. It borders on the Dakota Creek River. We pedalled to Blaine a couple of miles up the road and visited the peace arch, standing proud against the Pacific Ocean. After a wander beside the river, Philip is cooking us dinner of wild salmon (bought not caught) and fresh vegetables.
Despite making sure we’ve stayed up until gone 10pm every night, we keep waking at silly o’clock in the morning, around 3am. That, and the stress of setting up unfamiliar bikes for a seven-week trip and our panniers almost not fitting on them, has meant this evening I’m still nursing the headache I woke up with. Fingers crossed for a longer night tonight.
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