Port Angeles to Astoria then Portland

I took a bus up to the Canadian / USA border and stayed at a hosts house in the town of Port Angeles to start my 3 or 4 day ride through Washington State. The host was called Lonnie and he was a bit of a super host. He had 4 other people all stopping for the night in little self contained units. What a great set up. Almost a little camp ground.

At sunrise I cycled away after a full breakfast towards Lake Crescent to ride the coast and get some fantastic sun drenched views. The ride to Bogacheil State Park campground was pretty easy apart from a slight headwind but with such stunning views it was easy to forget the wind issue. I camped by a family out for the weekend and joined them for a late evening beer or three then hit the pillow.

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Day 2 took me towards Lake Quinault and a campground marked on my map that turned out to have been shut down a few years earlier. I was getting a bit desperate and as I had never wild camped at this point I went for the option of using some English charm and knocked on a door and asked If I could use the garden to set my tent up. Luckily I knocked on the right door and got to meet the lovely Robin who was staying at her holiday home while away from the heat of New Mexico. She made soup, put some clothes in the washer and joined me for a chat before I put down for the night. How amazing, a total stranger and I was made to feel so welcome and have a friend to lean on if I'm ever stuck in Albuquerque.

Day 3 and pushed to Ocean Beach campground around 40 miles away. This part of the ride was pretty boring, mostly trees with no clear view. Still, the campground was nice even if it rained most of the night. I did get chatting to a cyclist called Erica from Canada who I stayed in touch with long after this trip.

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Day 4 got me back to Astoria and the starting point of my edited border to border ride. What a fantastic couple of months. I'll do this again at some point in the future as I need to take it all in again and maybe get off the bike a bit more and see my surroundings.