Day 87: Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside

Day 87

Manzanita to Seaside 26miles

Another relaxed start. I could get used to this! Spent a bit of time in the morning chatting to a ouple of cyclists, Bob and Noreen, who lived in Washington. They were cycling some of the Pacific coast before driving back up north to get home. They were very friendly, and even offered to let me stay on their boat if I was in the area once they had finished their ride!

Packed up camp and eventually set off at about 11am. It was a pretty cold day today, at least by the standards of my trip, so my long sleeve top was making a rare appearance.

Another pretty easy ride today, couple of small steep climbs aside. The road seemed very busy today, as I guess a lot of people were starting to make their way home after the weekend by the coast. There were some lovely views over the coast, and I stopped to take a few photos.

Haystack rock in Cannon Beach. Not to be confused with Haystack rock in Pacific City!

I had planned to stop in Cannon beach for a late breakfast, but it was heaving. Friday and Saturday had seen the staging of the Hood 2 Coast relay which finished in Seaside. A 200mile running race where teams take turns in running legs of the course. Around 20,000 take part, so the whole area was very busy. It seems like each team has a support vehicle, and I saw many brightly painted SUVs and vans with team names on. But I was never going to find somewhere to eat without waiting awhile, so set off to Seaside which was only a few more miles down the road.

My last nights of my trip would be spent at a hostel in Seaside. Despite not arriving until almost 2pm, the staff were still busy cleaning up as last night was very busy for them with so many people in town. But I was able to dump my stuff, have a shower and go look round town. It seems like today and tomorrow are much less busy, so I actually have a whole dorm room to myself at the moment!

By now I was pretty hungry so decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at about 4pm. One of a group of cyclists I'd met in Pacific city worked in a seafood restaurant in Seaside, so I went in there and said hi and had a lovely big plate of scallops (I love seafood!)

Had a wander round town. Its very reminiscent of a typical English seaside resort with ice-cream stores, arcades and tourist trap shops. Although a bit differently, the main drag of shops actually runs perpendicular to the beach, whereas in the UK they tend to be on the promenade. It was still pretty cloudy in the afternoon, but the beach did look like a beach you could spend some time on. There were quite a few people there even in the cold weather – and it wasnt blowing a gale either!

Went back to my hostel and then bought some food for the next couple of days. When I got back I met a group of cyclists doing some of the Pacific coast route. Ended up having a long chat with them. I cant remember all the names, but lots of them began with J! There was a Julie, a Jerri, a John and a Jane. And one other J, and then Kent and Sam. Sam was riding a support van and, as I found out the next day, that was her job. So the 6 cyclists all knew each other, and then Sam was working by riding support and carrying their gear for them. Sounds like a nice job!

The riders were from Colorado, and were impressed by the fact I was drinking Fat Tire (as I was here for a couple of nights I treated myself to a 6 pack). Ended up going out for dinner with them (we were even driving into town!), although I just had a small plate of squid as I had eaten earlier.

All in all a very fun day. Tomorrow will probably do some walking, and hopefully spend some time on the beach if the weather is nicer. And might also use the day off to start to wrap up some of my thoughts on what has been an amazing trip.