One night I’m on the 8th floor of Jacob’s apartment building on Manhattan Ave, New York City, the next I’m in a wood in New Jersey. No wonder I get confused when I wake up.

• Today’s Distance (miles): 78
• Time in saddle: 5h 59
• Max/min temp – in full sun (°c): 38°/21°
• Climbing (feet) : 1.022
• Calories used: 4,269
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: big meal at McDonalds,
• Cafe time: 3h 47

Last night I hit a bit of a wall. Trying to write and upload the blog whilst also having a great deal of trouble finding anywhere to stay the following night (tonight), when I wanted to just enjoy being in the beautiful spot where I’d pitched my tent, made my brain seize up and say ‘enough, goodnight’, well before I’d finished using it.

In my disfunctioning state last night I failed to mention a few things:

1. I swam in the sea again, and it felt fab. Big Atlantic breakers made it such fun, rather than a lazy float, but I didn’t get a video. I had to spend 10 minutes persuading the guy checking for permits to let me swim for free before being allowed on the beach. Get this – it was a public beach that charges $10 for a visit. I said I was going to Swim’n’Go, and he ended up agreeing it would be just weird to charge me a fee for that. Then I showered and de-sanded my feet using my own spare water bottle, and got back on the road.

2. Ocean Avenue is amazing. There’s a boardwalk that mostly does not allow bikes, but there was a wide smooth road right next to it and I loved cruising along it. It was totally holiday-town-territory, everywhere I passed through, with some really impressive properties.

3. I got a second swim after I arrived at Cedar Creek Campground, where they had a huge pool, 12ft deep and with a water slide. I did some stretches, backstroke and then just finally relaxed a bit. There was a kid who slid down the water slide tube, swam and climbed out, then shouted to his dad ‘I need to pee!’. ‘C’mon over here then’, said dad. The kid then did all the above again, shouting ‘I still need to pee!, at dad again. ‘Well come over here then!!’, shouted dad. Off went the kid back up the slide. I heard mum sigh and say to dad ‘D’ya think he’s done it now?’ Dad laughed.

4. WE’RE IN NEW JERSEY – State No.6. I can’t believe I didn’t mention this already either. So a new piece of music is required, and my offering is some great Chuck Berry. Performed 20 years after my Shell map was printed, this song, You Can’t Catch Me, is about driving a new car down the New Jersey turnpike. What amazed me when I listened to it right through, is that the Beatles stole a line from this song in a track from Abbey Rd, Come Together. The Beatles sing ‘Here come old flat top he come groovin’ up slowly’. If you listen you’ll hear Chuck Berry sing the same tune and the line ‘Here come a flat-top, he was movin’ up with me’. You learn something new every day. The Beatles were incredibly original but like everyone original they were also standing on the shoulders of giants.

So back to today. I finally got lucky and called a campground, Tamerlane at the very top of Cape May in an area called South Shore Region, that just said ‘Sure, we’ll see you later’. It’s such a joy when you don’t get into a discussion about all the myriad reasons they won’t accept a simple bike and a tent for one night. It’s so tedious. there seems to be a change in the role of campground, from ‘campground’ to ‘resort-wannabe’, places that just can’t make enough bucks out of people like me, who really need a patch of ground for the night and a shower.

I followed Route 9 almost all the way, stopping for second breakfast after about 25 miles, and listening to loads of tracks on my phone as I speed along. Hardly any traffic lights, a wide shoulder and a side/tail wind today, which transformed my cycling after the last few days. And GREAT weather, forecast for the whole weekend. The plan is to reach the Cape May Ferry tomorrow afternoon, earlier if posssble.

I’d always planned to pass through Atlantic City and also Ocean City on this trip. I know their reputation for being very over-the-top Casino resorts, but I wanted to see for myself. It was honestly quite a dreadful experience, but I kept moving despite the crowds on the boardwalks (I gave up in Ocean City and joined the road instead – bliss) and did see some amazing buildings. This was America on holiday to the power of 10. Here’s a quick photo gallery:

I then phoned Susie as I cycled along using headphones, who gave me wonderful encouragement as my energy dipped in the heat (it was steaming all day) even though I had that dreadful ‘several more than ten miles’ still to go.

I got into Tamerlane in time to enjoy a lovely shower, Christmas, a swim (see below) and I’m writing this by the pool, with the sun going down and the cooking still to do. Goodnight wherever you are, and I hope you enjoy the odds and ends below! Bx

Just because it’s on my mind, here’s a song I listened to today that got really stuck in my head. Hide & Seek by the brilliant Imogen Heap. If you watched the amazing tv series Normal People, you may find that you know this track already (headphones are strongly recommended).

I finally arrived at the very most lovely campground, Tamerlane. They don’t overcharge, the hosts are lovely and welcoming, it was Christmas here this evening (getting used to it now), the atmosphere is so relaxed and friendly. This is the one for me, in almost every way, tied with Searsport back in Maine although that was a totally different experience. I chatted with three very sweet girls aged 6, 7 and 9 who asked me question after question about being English. ‘You sound different!’, said the nosiest and youngest. ‘I do’ I said. ‘I say words differently to you don’t I? You say ‘take a bath, and I say take a baath’. ‘You mean ‘bath’, corrected the youngest. ‘Yes but I say ‘baath’. She was getting a bit annoyed now. ‘It’s ‘bath. BATH!’. I decided to change the subject back to Christmas, but she had another thing she wanted to know. ‘What do you do if you come to a sea, or a water?’. ‘Well, what does mummy or daddy do if they come to water in your car?’ ‘They go over’. ‘Well so do I’. ‘Yes, but what do you doooo?’. I was so tempted to say ‘OK, you got me, I paddle with a ukulele’, but it was their turn in the Santa queue.

ADIRONDACK CHAIRS THAT REFUSE TO BE SAT IN:

ARTS & CULTURE: I WhatsApp-videocalled Susie from the et al cafe in Atlantic Highlands yesterday, and at one point Susie said ‘Hang on, stay there, wait, ok’, and we continued the conversation. Now I realise that she had noticed how incredibly artistic I was looking, and has sent me this collage to prove it. I’m am very much part of the Art Flou school of painting. We eschew the regressive thinking of those Art Ciblé dinosaurs. (Please feel free to look those words up. I did. Ha!)

SPORTS: Not a swimming video today (I could not face a swim in either Atlantic City or Ocean City, and wasn’t happy about leaving the bike anyway), but a view-from-the-swim instead:

Here’s my arty-ish pic of the day.

SIGNS (AND THINGS) THAT ARE FUNNY: rich pickings today, enjoy.

The funny thing about this one is that I thought these were fake deer, they were so still as they nibbled on someone’s lawn. As I started filming, a guy passed me on a bike and shouted, ‘Great shot!’.