I am not Alone - Day 14 - 29 miles

I awoke still feeling a little gloomy about the prospect of cycling. I had no choice but to have a short day's riding given the upcoming availability of campgrounds. This suited me just fine.

The sky was a cloudy and threatening to rain. I've been told this area of Washington tends to be like this in the mornings, clearing up later. So far this had been true. After 10 miles uneventful cycling I was greeted by a cyclist who'd appeared behind me without my noticing. We chatted for a little while but the traffic was heavy and I couldn't even turn around to look at him. I thought I was going quite slowly but he was slower and so before long disappeared a long way behind.

I pulled off the highway to have lunch at a fairly rough looking establishment. Upon entering I felt like I'd walked onto a movie set. If this had been a movie a brawl would've almost certainly broken out as I entered. Everyone was friendly, if not a little disconcertingly drunk for 11 in the morning. I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with fries. I saw a cyclist pull in to the car park and was pretty sure it was the guy I'd be chatting to earlier. He was much younger than I'd imagined when talking blindly to him earlier. His name was Jordan and we had lunch together, chatting some more about our journeys. As soon as we'd finished out meals we were ejected from the bar by the extremely butch and fearsome bar-lady. I don't think she wanted our kind hanging around, giving her loyal customers ideas about getting out and doing something with their lives.

We eyed-up each other's bikes for a bit in the car park. It was good discuss tyre-width and saddle-choice with somebody who was actually interested. We rode off together, he suggested I draft him (cycle close behind, out of the wind) for a bit. For the first time in 2 weeks there was a strong headwind today, making riding much harder than normal. We took turns in front, taking the force of the headwind. I dropped down to his pace the whole time and felt so much better for it. I felt like I could cycle forever at this pace. Perhaps this has been my problem. I've been cycling as hard as I could almost the entire time. Backing off just a couple of MPH seemed to allow me to cover the terrain with much greater ease. It may have also been the psychological uplift of having company. It was the first time in 2 weeks I've talking to someone for more than 30 minutes.

We rode together for about 3 hours before reaching Potlatch State Park, my intended end-point for today. Jordan was riding a further 45 miles to the next state park. I really wanted to continue riding with him as it was fun and I felt like I still had quite a few miles left in me. The problem was there were no other campgrounds in between. If I was to continue there would be no option to drop out if I couldn't make what would've been a total of 75 miles – a full 10 miles more than I've ever done in one day. With great regret I decided to stay at Potlatch and wished Jordan good luck.

Potlatch State Park is one of the better parks I've stayed at. It's set just back from the Hood Canal (more like an estuary than a canal) in a small area of rainforest. I set up next to a babbling brook. Before long another couple of cyclists arrived. A young Canadian couple taking the same route as me. An hour or so after that a German couple arrived on bikes. We established a small community of cyclists next to the brook. Today is the first day I've felt like I'm on the well-established Pacific Coast Highway cycle route. It feels good to be amongst a community of like-minded people.

Having set up camp so early in the afternoon I had plenty of time to explore, make cups of tea and read my book. It's worth mentioning what a source of comfort and inspiration my book has been. Apsley Cherry-Garrard's account of Scott's mission to the South Pole in 1910 really puts any problems I have in perspective. When I am wet to the core from the rain I think of Scott's team in the fierce storms, sailing to Antarctica, waist deep in icy water trying to bail out the ship to save their lives.

I was about to cook my usual dinner of pasta or rice with tomatoes and chilli flakes when the Canadian couple came over brandishing a large pot. They'd made too much curry and wanted to give me some. It was delicious and has inspired me to come up with some more inventive meals. Hopefully I will be able to do something nice for someone soon, rather than so often be on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers.