by Philip

Day’s mileage : 60

Running total : 791

We woke this morning to the sound of overflowing gutters, and saw heavy rain when we dared look outside. Over breakfast we played the “which weather forecast do we like” game – Apple weather said “patches of rain with 2 hour periods of dryness”, the US weather service said “rain showers” and the BBC said “build an ark”. As we came to load the bikes it had stopped raining so we’ll take that!

We started out riding along the estuary, passed over a modern drawbridge with a decent shoulder to ride on, seeing a brilliant white egret fishing and other birds digging in the mud. After 3 miles a light rain started but didn’t come to much, and when we turned onto Seven Devil’s Road (named for the somewhat challenging hills along it) we rode through an ethereal mist as the rain evaporated from the road surface. We passed a beautiful log cabin under construction, and a firm making pallets which looked very nice, the wood a deep red. Writing this by the roadside the sun is out, we can hear the sea and are listening to birds chirping in the trees. On the seventh climb we stopped for a snack, having done 1,000’ in the first 11 miles. 

After a bit more climbing we passed a couple of road names which amused us – Hemlock Lane and Stock Still Lane – both dead ends. There was more drizzle and then we had a glorious 2 mile descent on a windy, silent, wooded road.  We stopped briefly by some mailboxes as the postman arrived and realised his van was right hand drive so he could put the post in the boxes without having to leave the van. 

The next bit of road said it was closed but fortunately there was a way through for us, and we rejoined the 101, soon crossing another large bridge before turning off into the town of Bandon, past a marina and onto the cliffs above the ocean for a dry lunch watching fishermen on the beach and large colonies of seabirds on Table Rock. 

After lunch we rode along a cliff top road with occasional glimpses of the sea, past houses small and large looking out over the ocean. There was a warning sign that the road is prone to flooding, and after a mile or so – guess what? We had to turn round for a 4 mile detour. The silver lining was that shortly after the U turn we saw a skunk in a drainage ditch – much larger than I was expecting, but it scuttled off into a drainage pipe before we could get a phone out for a photo.

We rejoined the 101 where we remained for the rest of today until Port Orford. It seems to be completely straight, with lots of ups and downs. We passed fields of cows and sheep and some carefully designed fields which we couldn’t work out – whether agriculture or some kind of water filtration.  There were lots of eagles overhead throughout. About 13 miles out of Port Orford we entered Curry County with a sign saying that they honor (sic) veterans (we see this a lot) and first responders (which we haven’t seen before) so I’m feeling very honored. The next small town was Langlois which claims to be the home of “the world famous hot dog” … 

For the last ten miles the sun came out, and as we approached Port Orford (pop 1190) the shoulder was wider than the main carriageway, a blue heron graced us by flying alongside, and there was no traffic for at least a mile! 

We stopped at Ray’s food store and chatted to a local man whose grandfather came over from Norway in 1938 as a merchant seaman, jumped ship in Seattle and settled here in Oregon – as a gold miner. After a quick food shop we went to find our accommodation in a “guest suite” in someone’s home … which is up the steepest hill we’ve encountered since Astoria … 230’ climb in 0.4 miles! Completely worth it though – the suite has its own deck with a fabulous view of the bay, mountains and forest, and there’s a hot tub to use too!

Oh – and the weather? Very windy, but only the occasional light shower. No arks required at all.