Pacific Ocean – Astoria
14 miles / 341ft climb
We cycled a lovely, varied route for 25 miles to the Pacific coast today. That’s 25 miles in the ‘wrong’ direction if we’re ultimately heading for the Atlantic Ocean. However, we were keen to dunk our bike wheels in the Pacific Ocean to mark the official start of our journey. We did this near the Peter Iredale wreckage at Fort Steven State Park, Warrenton, Oregon.
We then took a more direct 14 mile route back to Astoria from where we will head east tomorrow morning.
Again, we were lucky with the weather. After torrential rain overnight, we had only 10 minutes or so of rain today.
We gratefully left route planning and navigation to Dave and Kathy who had travelled from Seattle to support our arrival and the preparations needed to enable us to start our cycle ride.
When I reflect on our cycling experiences, it is always the people we meet who make the experience so memorable. We first met Dave and Kathy when we cycled together to Barcelona. They have been exceptionally kind and helpful to us before we even left the UK and have continued to make the first few days of our challenge as easy and enjoyable as possible. As with all our previous challenges, teamwork was at the core of another successful day and what an incredible team Kathy and Dave are. It proved to be a lovely first ride of this year’s challenge.
Kathy and a Dave have returned to Seattle and we shall miss their calm, comforting and caring company.
I think it’s reasonable to suggest that we’ve broken the back of it with 14 miles done and only 4,486 miles to go.
Tomorrow, we have 40 miles planned which should take us to Clatskanie.
In other news……
Our Cycle Across America companions, Caroline and Paul have arrived in Portland today.
And were met by their son, Mark.
We saw this beautiful herd of elk in Fort Stevens State Park.
Eating three meals out today, we have consumed more calories than we have used, without any effort at all!
Challenging Times 
Hi John and Alison: Such a privilege to have been able to share in the excitement at the start of your epic ride. You two are both amazing. Safe journey. May the wind be at your back… May the air be perfect… May your guardian angels hold you in the palms of their hands…. Dave and Kathy
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Full of proudiness of you both, looks like great fun so far! Keep up the good work and k look forward to hearing more of your adventures as the journey continues
Thanks Kieran. Sure we can’t tempt you to join us for a couple of weeks? 😉
Such a lovely gentle friendly way to start your epic adventure
Wising you all the best
X
I wish you lots of luck and love on your epic travels. I’m so looking forward to reading about your journey each day. Take care and have the best fun ❤️
It’s so lovely to hear from you. Thank you x
What a lovely way to start your journey! xx
And so it begins. Thanks for bringing us along with you with your words and photos. So exciting.
And they’re off! 🥂 x
Great start 🎉
Wishing you all the best of luck with your monumental journey. May fair weather, smooth terrain and tail winds be your companions. Sending love and God’s speed. Love Nici xx 😘 ❤️
…and so it begins. My message to you and the team:
Great to hear that Cathy and Dave was so helpful. It was fortuitous that I met them on the roadside eight years ago. And I’m very lucky to have friends.
I’m really excited to follow along on a daily basis if you’re able to keep up the blogging!
Jxx
Thanks for your interest and support Julian. Good luck training for Portugal. X