Many Milestones

It seems that with trip milestones, when it rains it pours. In the last few days I've finished the ride down Baja California, posted my biggest daily distance at 200km, crossed the Tropic of Cancer, crossed over to mainland Mexico and cycled more than 5,000 km. All of these add up to make one very happy Ant.

I'm happiest about having cycled through Baja and being on the mainland. I covered the 1,550 km of Baja in exactly two weeks and posted my biggest day of the trip on my way to my final stop in Baja, La Paz. La Paz is a lovely city that sits on a large sheltered bay over which the sun sets each night. With a poulation of 170,000 it's big by Baja standards and comparatively quite cosmopolitan. I think it had the first coffee shops I'd seen in Baja.

I got on the ferry from La Paz on Sunday evening and woke up on Monday morning in Mazatlan (well, I should say the last time I woke up on Monday morning I was in Mazatlan. A combination of thrift and the beautiful night sky meant I decided to sleep on the deck of the ferry rather than get a cabin. Problem is mexican ferry employees aren't shy and many of them, on realising it was a gringo asleep on the deck, decided to wake me up to practice their english and tell me thier life stories).

Anyway, the difference between Baja and the mainland is dramatic and was imediately striking. Everywhere you look here there is verdant greenery. On every hill, mountain and in every valley there's a deep blanket of trees, palms, bushes and grass and the river beds actually have water in them! When I look around at this landscape it says to me "Look at all the life I support". When I looked at the barren rocks and cactus fields of the Baja desert it would say to me "Be very careful Ant. Be very, very careful. If you slip up and get this wrong I'll have to properly f you up". I'm not denying the desert has it's beauty. It certainly does, but it was just a very difficult thing to cycle across and getting into a different climate has really highlighted that to me.

Not that the climate here is all that good for cycling - the temperatures are in the mid 30s and the humidity is high so it's very sweaty work - but it doesn't have the debilitating effect that the midday desert sun did. Another significant factor here is the population density is greater so there are more towns and cities and therefore the logistics of food, water and accomodation are that much easier. Overall, I'm really enjoying travelling through here. The scenery is beautiful, the food is excellent and the poeple are just fantastic.

Having cycled 5,000 km is also a big milestone, because it means I've crossed the halfway point of this trip. I expect to do a total of somewhere between 9,500 and 10,000 km: another 2,200 odd in Mexico and the remainder in the rest of Central America.

Still not having much luck uploading photos, but will keep trying.

Bienvenidos a Mexico!

What a crazy place! And not for any of the reasons people told me it would be. I had no probems getting through Tijuana, the drivers have been excellent and given me loads of space on the road, I've met no corrupt policemen or soldiers and can't imagine anyone here getting worked up enough to make me feel threatend.

No, this is crazy because of the terrain and the weather. As I write this my thermometer is hovering around 40C and this isn't the peak heat of the day. I crossed the border early on the 4th July and for the first night I stayed at Ensenada which is on the coast and so a bit more temperate, but since then I've spent the rest of the week cycling through desert. Strangely, the heat isn't the worst thing on the bike. You obviously need to keep drinking to stay hydrated (and although places to stock up can be far between I can carry enough when needed). The the worst thing is on the bike you're in the open all day so you're exposed to the intensity of the sun which can be brutal, especially in the early afternoon. So I've modified my cycling tactics: I aim to set off around 6am each day and cycle hard to get where I want to be before the sun really kicks in and if I can't get there in time then find a shady spot to sit out the hottest part of the day and wait for it to cool down into the low 30s before finishing off.

But despite the weather and hilly terrain this I've been making good progress - I've covered 900km of the Baja peninsular in the last eight days and I'm now in the verdant oasis town of San Ignacio. In fact, it's probably because of the weather as I'm not all that inclined to hang around. Also, this is perhaps the first pretty town I've been through. Most are just a half shanty type sprawl along the main road, but San Ignacio has a lot more character and still retains some of the original town built by the Spanish Jesuit and then Dominican missionaries around 200 years ago. It's also very green and shady with date palms everywhere, which makes a nice chage to cacti. I can't upload photos easily here, but will put some on to give you an idea in the next major town I pass through.

So, although I'm not inclined to linger in Baja, overall I'm enjoying the experience of cycling here and I'm settling into the Mexico leg of the trip.

Adios USA

I spent my last two weeks in the USA with a week of surfing in San Diego and then a road trip through inland California to spend a few days at Yosemite national park. In San Diego I stayed at Pacific Beach in a hotel with a balcony overlooking the ocean, the beach and the amazing spectacle that is the boardwalk. This is one massive parade of beautiful people all trying to draw attention to themselves, but whilst trying to portray the image that they are in no way interested in anyone's attention. Quite a challenge, eh? I was definitely the odd one out with the intentionally scruffy beard and shaggy hair I'm trying to cultivate (so I look poor and not worth robbing in Central America). The surfing there was great though and after seeing so many people in the water all along the coast it was great to finally get a good board and join them for a few waves.

So, it's time to leave the US. In total I cycled 3200km through Canada and the USA in 40 days. In many ways I'm sad to be leaving. It's been an amazing experience - I've seen so much beauty and met so many great people all along the way, but the essence of travel is to keep the memories and move on to the next destination. And for me that next destination is a very exciting one - Mexico! I'm really looking forward to the culture change and can't wait to get into spanish speaking territorry...

(The picture shows local Carnies working hard on Pacific Beach a little bit more impressive than what I managed with a bottle of stove fuel, but not as impressive as what Leigh managed when he accidentally set a whole 6 foot by 3 foot camp table on fire :)

California

I've been on the road now for one month and one week and have cycled 3,000 km, which means the US leg of the trip is nearly over. I'm in LA at the moment and will be heading down to San Diego, which is my last port of call in the US, in the next few days.

The journey through California has been astounding. It's a big state (about 1000 miles from the north to the south) and the terrain and landscape is accordingly diverse. Every day there's been something new to take my breath away, be it the giant redwoods in the north, the wildflower meadows in Mendocino, the rugged coastline of Big Sur, the palm trees and golden beaches of the south or the warmth and hospitality of the people I meet each day. I could go on, but you'll get a better idea from the pictures.

I spent three days in San Francisco, which was a real highlight. Portland and Seattle were both very nice cities, but of all the major ones I've passed through San Francisco has been my favourite as it's got such a chilled out atmosphere. My next stop was Santa Barbara and then Ventura, where I stopped for my first day of Californian surfing. The further south you get the better the surfing becomes so I can't wait to get to San Diego where I plan to spend a few days catching some waves. I'm also toying with the idea of somehow gerry-rigging a surfboard onto my touring rig and taking it with me as I head south. There are only 2 issues with this: 1) how to do it; 2) given I'm unemployed and technically I'm also homeless if I do something crazy like cycling with a surfboard I think that puts me firmly into hobo territory. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for that yet...

"...Driving down the 101, California here we come..."

Since I crossed into California a couple of days back I've not been able to stop singing the OC soundtrack. It's repetitive as I can only remember one line from it, but I still think that'll keep me going for the next thousand miles or so to the border. I love this place already and I've only been here a couple of days.

About a week back I started bumping into more cyclists heading down the coast and have been riding as part of a growing posse since. At one point we even had a dog and a herd of cows running with us. Five of us rolled into the small college town of Arcata last night and while waiting at a set of traffic lights we were offered a garden to pitch our tents in and in the morning fed with the best pancakes I've had this trip (and I've had a lot of pancakes this trip!). Jo and Mike - thanks for the awesome hospitality!

The riding has been a mix of rugged coast, sandy beaches, grassland and through redwood forests. Biking through these giants is truly incredible!

The Pacific Proper

I left Portland midday Tuesday to make the short hop down to the coast. Turned out though that the short hop wasn't short by any means and included a big mountain range to cross. Oops! Added to this the headwind and showers were back with a vengeance so I rolled into the quiet little town of Tillamook that evening after 100 odd km. Tillamook had all the facilities I needed. Would have been great if any of them were still open! Perhaps I've just got too used to big city living, but it was a little odd to find every restaurant and cafe in the town closed at 8pm. The Tillamook area is very big on dairy farms and produce and it's known for the production of that bright orange plastic cheese the Americans know as cheddar. Strangely they seem proud of this.

I set off the next blustery morning with the distinct impression that the weather gods had it in for me and clearly favoured Kris "Kannonball" Kumar who rode with me from Seattle to Portland and was treated to beautiful conditions. The self-importance of this was happily dispelled when the sun burst through and the wind switched to the north making for fantastic riding conditions. It's been this way since. I got down to the coast and had my first sight of the uninterrupted Pacific Ocean, stretching blue to the horizon without any islands or headlands between me and Asia. Since then I've had this every time I look to the right.

This is a fantastic place to be riding. Check out some of the pictures to see just how stunning the Oregon coastline is, with it's mix of rocky headlands and vast stretching golden sand beaches. All along here are state campsites, just moments from the beach and charging four or five dollars to stay the night. The people of Oregon have also continued the friendly gregariousness I came to expect in Washington with many drivers even pulling over at the side of the road just to find out what I'm doing and where I'm going.

From here my route continues straight down the coast. In about 250 miles it goes from being the Oregon coast to the California coast, but not until San Francisco is there another big city so plenty of time to make the most of it.

On The Road

I reached Portland, Oregon, yesterday evening and today I'm taking a well earned rest day and chilling out in the city.

I'm super pleased with the last week. I've been running to a tight schedule, but managed to cover the 320km from Vancouver to Seattle in 3 days and the 340km from Seattle to Portland in another 3 days.

Seattle proved to be a mid-point for the week in many ways, not least of which was the weather. I spent the first three days slugging into a strong headwind, which makes it feel like your constantly going uphill as the bike just doesn't freewheel and you have to work to keep the momentum even on small downhills. It also rained! A hell of lot! I made a fortuitous last minute packing decision to throw in some waterproof trousers as they got an outing every day and saved me from the worst of it. For all those who complain about how much it rains in London, it rains much more here - probably about on par with Wales. The difference is though, that in Wales it drizzles a lot, here it just sheets down and it was sheeting down big time when I reached Seattle. What's surprising is despite the rain, there's a big bike culture in Seattle. There's also big hippy culture. There's loads of them. Nobody could give me a definitive answer why that is, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact you can legally grow weed in your back garden there.

Leaving Seattle, the weather was the complete opposite with a gentle tail wind and temperatures in the mid twenties. The road is also ridiculously flat once you get out of the centre and so the first days riding was great. That set the tone for the next couple of days, with glorious sunshine and beautiful countryside. So I cruised on down to Portland, posting my biggest day of 150km to get here on Sunday evening. The main things to note about Portland are:

1) It has even more bikes than Seattle.

2) It has the biggest bookshop in the world

3) For every person in Portland there are three tramps. This is because Oregon treats the homeless better than many other states so it's a bit of a tramp magnet.