(Incidents of Travel is functional again. I finally found some Wi-Fi that works at the lovely Wave Coffee shop. And a/c too. Bliss. May stay til they close at midday!)

On a scale of short to massive, I would rate today’s stage as ‘massive’. You have been warned!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS: The trouble with being in charge of your own adventure is that sometimes you have to make tough decisions. This morning was one of those occasions.

• Today’s Distance (miles): 89
• Time in saddle: 8h 11
• Max/min temp – in full sun (°c): 44°/22°
• Climbing (feet) : 524
• Calories used: 5,328
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: First place I found that was open! Coffee, egg McMuffin, chocolate milk & orange juice at McDonalds in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
• Cafe time: 6h 24

After a steak supper with a beer last night, at Applebees 1/2 a mile from the motel…

…I was asleep by 10pm, not really knowing how I was going to deal with the two issues in the morning: a very long ride needed to get to the campground I’d booked (I’d been told it was very busy on the Outer Banks this weekend), and the very hot weather predicted. After yesterday, I would normally have given myself an easy day today, or even a free one, to give me a chance to bounce back physically. This just didn’t work, however. It was 86 miles of cycling or a precious wasted booking and a lot of new problems.

Waking suddenly at 2.30am, the solution was uncomfortably clear. Forego several things I’d really been looking forward to – a lie-in, a morning swim in the pool, a big breakfast that came free with the room, just being in a nice hotel – and set off at stupid o’clock. This would avoid the heat (mostly), the Friday traffic, and give me a chance to rest up along the way without running out of time. The decision made, I was packed up and on the road out of Elizabeth City by 3.45am

It felt familiar to be cycling in the dark, especially once out of the street lights of Elizabeth City, because I cycle to Beechwood to teach throughout the winter, when it isn’t light until well after I arrive at the school. It’s like being out in space, just flying along with little reference around you to judge your speed. What wasn’t familiar was the warmth! In England it would often be several degrees below zero the whole way, but this morning it was 25C and so humid that I was dripping within a very short time. Here’s a pretty awful picture that actually gives a good impression of what it was like:

Not having to battle the sun meant that I could build up to a really good steady effort and keep to it. I rode without stopping for about four hours, but did not feel like it was a real hardship. It was a relief to have such comfortable conditions for a change, despite the darkness, and I felt physically up for it. I had the odd nervy moment when I heard heavier rustling in the woods beside the road, (I’m still in Black Bear territory) but I was moving swiftly enough not to feel like I was in anything like a vulnerable position. Mostly I just enjoyed the croaking of toads and the chirruping and chuck-chucking of whatever it was that was awake out there in the swamp.

In theory, today was my rest day, but I’d moved it back a day so that I could spend it on the beautiful Outer Banks (or OBX as it’s referred to locally) within easy reach of a sea swim, rather than in Elizabeth City. By the end of the day, I had good reason to doubt the decision.

As I cycled yesterday I was listening to music on shuffle to keep me concentrating, and a song by Sting came up – Seven Days from ‘Ten Summoner’s Tales’. The chorus sounded to me exactly like deciding when I should take a rest day:

Monday, I could wait ‘til

Tuesday, if I make up my mind

Wednesday would be fine,

Thursday’s on my mind,

Friday, give time,

Saturday can wait,

Sunday be too late

I’d been looking forward to arriving at the Outer Banks for some time, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite the arrival I’d anticipated. Firstly, the Wright Memorial Bridge that links Point Harbor with the island is amazing (you can see it in the map above), but not bike friendly, and requires a steady nerve as it carries on in a straight line – with only a very narrow bike lane, never varying in the slightest except for a steep rise and fall at the very end – for the best part of 3 miles.

This part of the journey I knew about, but actually doing it is always another matter. What I didn’t know about was another long steel nail, quietly waiting for me and my rear wheel in the hard shoulder just after the misery of the bridge ends. So, no pu*&%^$£ for all of those thousands of miles, then two, unrelated but same wheel, two days apart. And both just before I was about to stop, but not close enough to roll the bike.

Once I was happy it was good to go, I went directly to breakfast without another thought in my head. FOOD COFFEE COLD DRINK is pretty close to all that was going on up there. And for the next hour or so I sat in the a/c in a very comfortable high booth, listening to the locals discussing their farms and crops (the accent is just great down here) and the price of land, but I was also writing this and making coffee disappear at the same time. And it was only 9.30am! 45 miles done! 40 more to go!

There was a Walmart right beside my breakfast stop so I paid a visit to pick up some spare inner tubes, and also a new mini pump because mine had finally given up the ghost after about ten terrific years of use (I suspect that using it in the intense heat here had made the rubber seal perish). Still highly recommended – Topeak Race Rocket Mini. Brilliant design and super strong.

Then it was straight to the ocean for a sea swim. The sea was such a tonic, with a fair surf and a lovely cool temp. I wanted to stay underwater all day, but sadly that turned out not to be possible.

8 miles later I swung hard right and visited the site of the first successful flight by a plane, the Kitty Hawk Memorial to the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur. Interesting fact about the brothers – they owned a bicycle company and realised that using instinctive ‘leaning’ into a change of direction, as you do on a bicycle, might work for their aircraft too. Their hunch proved to be correct, removing the need for lots of complicated steering mechanism.

The plan for the rest of the day was to split it up into roughly 10-mile stretches, with either a swim or an a/c stop at each waypoint. That was the plan. Reality was a little different.

The first stop 10 miles down the road for a chicken salad at Nags Head (as seen in yesterday’s blog signs). Having had such a cool, dark start to the day, the weather outside was now turning fully hot, and I still had a fair way to go, which included one or two major obstacles (more later). I checked the map and selected Coquina Beach as my next stop. Setting off again, the big problem for the day, apart from the heat, presented itself. A really strong headwind had built up, and as I’ve said here many times before, it halved my speed and doubled my effort. I was extremely glad to stop at the beach, where I found they had a great Bath House – a collection of showers, toilets and changing rooms, all arranged around a large boardwalk. The sea was some way off, so I decided to just shower! And again. And again, resting in the shade each time between doses, until I started to feel semi-human again..

As soon as I left i was confronted by one of the obstacles I mentioned earlier: The Bonner Bridge.

The bike lane was great, and partially in shade (for my legs at least), the traffic was sparse and the sea breeze was cooler than on land, but other than that it was a moment to judge your progress incrementally and Not Give Up. These are the times when preparing properly for a long biking challenge really pays dividends. I stopped at bends in the bridge to get my breath back and enjoy the amazing views.

Because not stopping means you will get there in the end, I got there in the end, dropping down off the last rise of the bridge into Pea Island, which is basically one huge sand bar with a road running through it.

Sadly, completing Pea Island qualified me for my third major road bridge of the day, Jug Handle Bridge. The headwind by this point was my nemesis, sapping what little energy I had left.

I arrived at the one and only campground that both accepted tents and had a spot for two nights, North Beach Campground, and hated it from the moment I arrived. It had poor quality everything (no list needed) and was ‘run’ from the grocery store on the highway, which meant that they went home at 8pm, leaving it unattended. I had a nightmare of an evening/night, contending with heat, wind, tiredness, ants, but mostly my idiotic tent-neighbours who went partying on the beach every hour or so throughout the night, (often starting up their flatbed truck and the incredibly loud music for no apparent reason, shouting loudly at each other as they got drunker and drunker). I finally slept when they did, from about 4-6am. Oh yes, and there’s no proper phone signal, just enough for text on the blog. I am seriously doubting the wisdom of my decision to visit the ‘wonderful outer banks’. So far, my experience of it is a low point on this adventure. It looks nice though. I found out this morning that on top of the heat and the wind, there’s a riptide warning meaning that I’m not even going to get a swim.

No photos yet I’m afraid, because I dislike the campsite so much – and I’ve got my free day here, yay. Lucky me. The best thing that has happened so far was finding a lovely coffee shop with both a/c and Wi-Fi (surprisingly rare here on OBX), and the coffee’s great. Combined with a big piece of home made ‘apple crumble pie’ at least got my system down to Defcon 3 or 4. I may spend the whole day here.

Apologies for the morale-sapping tone of the second part of Day 28. My mum once advised me to write more ‘warts-and-all’, but I tended not to when actually travelling because it affected my own mood! Once I was home again, it was fine. Today, I’m just venting. Thanks for being there.

EDUCATION: I finally remembered to look for the page in the Beechwwood Park summer newsletter that used photos actually taken during this trip! Remember when? Feels like an age ago already, especially right now. Thanks so much for organising this, @Jane Lodge!

SIGNS THAT VERY NEARLY PENETRATE A HUMOUR BYPASS: