We have arrived in Washington DC on our bikes all the way from Chicago – how exciting is that?! The route from Mike’s house was lovely, through undulating countryside for about 15 miles until the edge of Washington. The roads were quiet as it’s a public holiday. We rode straight down to the White House for the obligatory photo and a free ice cream for me, (they were being handed out for Independence Day), I think I’ve definitely earned it. We cycled over to the National Mall and caught the tail end of the 4 July parade and saw the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol. After we freshen up we’ll go for a stroll, then later we’ll be watching the fireworks – happy Independence Day everyone.

We’re about to set off on our final cycle stage of the holiday from Columbia to Washington DC. Mike has mixed feelings about today, excited about getting to Washington but sad that it’s nearly the end of our trip. I’ve tried to cheer him up by suggesting he starts planning our next ride (perhaps a honeymoon!). The route today is our shortest so far, only 29 miles so it shouldn’t take long (famous last words!). With a fair wind we’ll be in central DC for lunch and the Independence Day celebrations (if I can drag Mike away from the Tour de France coverage). A cup of tea would be nice too (we are British after all!), so if you’re in Barack we could pop in for a cuppa – and we promise not to burn the place down.

It’s become a pretty regular pattern over the past fortnight, wherever we’re staying I’m normally wide awake at 4.30am. Quite handy for keeping the blog up to date and for syncing with the UK, which is five hours ahead – but not so great for keeping refreshed. Today I have a good reason to be wide awake so early – excitement! It is 4th July – Independence Day, so have a good one to all our American (and non-American) friends who are celebrating. After our final 35 miles of cycling we hope to be in Washington by lunchtime to join in the celebrations. Everywhere we’ve been people have said how great It is to be in Washington DC on 4 July, there is a big parade this afternoon and after dusk the firework show to end all firework shows! I’m also looking forward to seeing the decorations. As we’ve cycled along I’ve noticed people putting up their red, white and blue flags and swags. Businesses also get into the mood by having special Independence Day shop windows – we saw this cake shop window in Cumberland, I’m sure there will be pictures of many more before the day is out.

Would you ‘Adam and Eve it’? We’ve cycled nearly 900 miles from Chicago and have been in Columbia at Mike’s house for about an hour, when I find myself on my way to Baltimore to visit the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Museum! Mike had heard about this museum from Linda and her son Sean who we’d met when we stopped to fix a puncture on their lawn on day one of our ride. I didn’t actually think we’d end up visiting, (especially as we had to spend an extra morning on the road today) but true to form, Mike found a way to squeeze in a visit to see the choo choos. Now who else do I know who likes nothing better than visiting railway-related attractions? Yep, that’s right – it turns out I really have ended up being attracted to a man who shares an uncanny similarity of shared interests with my father!

Our ride yesterday and today has taken us closer to the east coast, as we’ve cycled along you notice the architecture changing. Some of the buildings look older – well by USA standards – and certainly more familiar. The architectural style resembles elements of Georgian buildings that we have in Bristol and Bath. Sash windows, columns, porticos are all quite common around here, however the materials used are very American. Most of them are constructed from wood and painted white or pretty colours, all very pleasant. The style of buildings are not the only familiar sight on our travels today – we saw roundabouts (or traffic circles as they call them in the USA). The Americans love their roads but much prefer cross roads and flyovers to these weird European round things that get in the way of the traffic. So uncommon are they that traffic circles here are often accompanied by signs telling drivers how to use them, for example, ‘yield to traffic on circle’ (we would say give way) and arrows telling drivers which way to drive around them. This is quite a contrast to the UK where roundabouts are common and liked to the degree that there are actually groups that campaign for roundabouts and who take care of existing ones with planting and art installations . We must have seen about ten roundabouts along our route today (unfortunately they weren’t as pretty as European ones) – fortunately we managed to go around them all the correct way.

Last week as we cycled out of Columbus Ohio I couldn’t avoid seeing the giant advertisements along the road for a local radio station called ‘Oldies’ – clearly targeting a certain demographic. The cover boy for this particular advertisement campaign was not other than our own Sir Elton John (or as he’s known back in England, Reg Dwight). I pondered the irony in this choice as Elton seems to have spent most of the last few years trying to defy the ageing process be it by hair replacement surgery or marrying a man many years younger than himself, I’m not sure he’d like to see a 12 foot image of himself plastered across the road alongside the slogan ‘oldies’! It was quite a busy road, so I didn’t fancy stopping to take a picture so you’ll just have to use your imagination. I did, however, notice another oldies radio station advertises in Cumberland, clearly it’s a growing target market here in the USA – Reg will always have some to listen too when he’s here.

So far on our travels they cycling has been pretty flat – partly because we’ve followed as many old railway trails as possible and partly because the bits of Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania we’ve cycled through have been pretty flat. The only serious climbing we’ve done to date was in the tiny bit of West Virginia and the street Patrick, (our Warm Whowers host) lived on in Pittsburgh. This all changed yesterday on our route from Cumberland to Frederick. To avoid going on the windy and not sealed Chesapeake and Ohio canal towpath, the only way was through the Appalachian Mountains. We took on five serious climbs, but they were worth it. The views were fab and the descents were fast and (mostly) long. As I always like to say, hills are only a problem for cyclists 50% of the time – they’re a bonus when you come down them! In the Tour de France the winner of the mountain stages are rewarded with a red polka dot shirt, there wasn’t any one winner on our mountain stage, we all shared the pain pretty evenly taking turns to lead. However, it was hot and the heat (and sweat) under my helmet has brought out a nice polka dot rash on my forehead. I did win the prize for the least moaning (I just put my head down get on with the hills), but the two Mikes both moaned their way uphill – more like a moantain stage for them!

We passed the ‘Mason-Dixie line’ between Pennsylvania and Maryland on Monday so our now in the fifth and final state on this trip – so here are a few things you may or may not know about Maryland.

Maryland is one of the smallest states in terms of area, but it remains one of the most populous as well as one of the most densely populated states of the United States. The state’s largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Although the state is officially claimed to be named after Queen Henrietta Maria many historians believe Maryland was named after Mary, the mother of Jesus by George Calvert, prior to his death in 1632. The original intent may never be known. Maryland has the highest median household income, making it the wealthiest state in the nation – you can certainly tell this when you cycle here, the roads in Maryland are very well maintained.

Ethnically, Marylanders are chiefly of German, Irish or African-American ancestry. Maryland has a large Korean American population. In fact, 1.7 percent are Korean, while as a whole, almost 6.0 percent are Asian.

The two counties of Western Maryland, Allegany and Garrett, are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling West Virginia more than they do the rest of Maryland. Guess which two counties we cycled through yesterday? Yep, you guessed it – the hilly ones.

Maryland’s economic activity is strongly concentrated in the tertiary service sector, and this sector, in turn, is strongly influenced by location. One major service activity is transportation, centred on the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access. You get a sense of this when you see the improbably long freight trains carrying metal cargo boxes stretching for miles.

Since before the Civil War, Maryland’s elections have been largely controlled by the Democrats. Maryland has supported the Democratic nominee in each of the last five presidential elections, by an average margin of 15.4 percent. The Governor of Maryland is a Democrat, both of Maryland’s U.S. Senators and seven of its eight Representatives in Congress are Democrats.

Famous Marylanders include Cass Elliot, singer of pop band The Mamas & the Papas, Philip Glass, composer, Billie Holiday, singer and Michael Phelps, Olympic swimmer.

Two years ago when Mike and I cycled down the west coast of the USA we were regular customers at Safeway’s supermarkets and Starbuck’s coffee shops. These suited our needs a) because they had a reasonable choice of vegi food and b) they had free wifi, (ideal for updating the blog). Unfortunately Safeway doesn’t really have much of a presence in the mid west/eastern board of the USA and we’re boycotting Starbuck’s due to their habit of not paying their taxes in the UK. This and the fact that Mike is now vegan has made finding feed stops on this trip a bit more challenging. Thankfully, as soon as we arrived in Pennsylvania our task was made a bit simpler by their discovery of Sheetz. These stores are really just petrol-station shops, but they have a self-order deli system where you use screens to choose your own burger, wrap, sub (what we call rolls) or salad – you can also add extras such as fries and onion rings. This system works well for Mike, since he can choose only the vegan content – sorted. The only trouble comes when he forgets that hot and spicy foods give him the hiccups – steer clear of the jalapeño peppers Mike – hick!

Last night we sat down to work out the route of today’s stage from Cumberland to Mike’s house in Columbia. I soon realised that we had a problem. However I tried to route us, the miles were showing up to 170 – some way from the 105 I had on my schedule! It turns out in the planning when we’d been altering destinations along our route, I’d managed to keep in one of the previous finish points instead of the actual one.

Fortunately on these trips we always build in a bit of slack at the end so that we can cope with any problems – even ones like this. We eventually found a route that was either 126 miles in one go (doable, but hard). But we’ll probably find another hotel for tonight and split our final leg into two more manageable 60-something miles on each day. We’ll lose our spare day tomorrow, so probably no trip to Baltimore – but it won’t affect our sightseeing in Washington DC.

When me and my brothers were little, Janet – my aunt – would take us to the pictures. She passed her love of movies to us. We would see an eclectic range of films from comedy to sci-fi. We didn’t see enough costume drama for my liking … but I was outnumbered! We did, however, go to see a movie called ‘Across the Great Divide’, the plot concerned two orphans travelling across America’s Rocky Mountains to claim their inheritance. To be honest, I can’t recall much about the movie, bar a few images of log cabins and blue gingham dresses. But the film has gone down in our family’s history as my brothers think that this was the most boring film/movie they were ever taken to see.

Today we passed our own very real ‘great divide’. After climbing for 50 miles we reached the Great Eastern Divide – the highest point on the Great Allegheny Passage. After this point it was downhill all the way to Cumberland for 25 miles.

Unfortunately, our much anticipated freewheel into town was disrupted by not one, but two mechanical stops. First Michael’s (McL) tyre punctured rather dramatically with a large pop, the tyre had been ripped by a sharp stone. After a running repair we set off again, but only made it a further ten miles before the tyre failed again. Fortunately we carry a folding spare tyre and so after Mike and Mike switched the tyre and tube we were off again – perhaps not quite as exciting as an action movie, but certainly not as dull a day as the other Across the Great Divide and we passed some very Hollywood-sounding names such as ‘Great Savage Mountain’ – thankfully we went through it as opposed to over it, (and through a very scary tunnel). Despite the incidents we conquered the Great Divide!

After my numerous tumbles yesterday it seems to be appropriate to be visiting a landmark with the word ‘falling’ in the tittle. I am of course referring to Fallingwater, the house designed in 1936 by Frank Lloyd Wright as the holiday home for the Kaufmann family.

The house is a national monument in the USA and considered by many architects to be one of the finest modernist buildings ever built. It is also the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in public ownership with its entire furniture, grounds and artwork intact, (the house was gifted to a conservancy by the family in 1963). We didn’t even know the house was here until I spotted it marked on a cycling map as I plotted our holiday route a few months ago. Once we knew we’d be passing, it would have been crazy to miss the opportunity to visit, so I took the decision to book us on an 8.30 am in-depth tour of the house. Mike was a bit aghast at the cost of this tour (£138), but I though, how many times are we going to be cycling (or driving) past Fallingwater? – Not often was my answer, so that justified the expense. We were not disappointed. My words can’t really do justice to the house and how it sits in the surrounding landscape so I’ll leave that to some pictures.

What better was to end our day’s cycling than with a bit of fishing? The bait we were using, was in fact our feet. The cooling water of the Youghiogheny River was the perfect tonic to help us unwind and chill. The water wasn’t warm – but neither was it freezing, so sitting in the warmth of the evening, (the temperature is still easily in the 70s) it was wonderful.

Plenty of youngsters were paddling well up to their chests, (I suspect they have better circulation than us), we were happy just to watch.

The Tour de France began a few days ago in Corsica. Normally we would spend a couple of weeks following the Tour. But being in the USA makes that quite difficult of course, so we’re having to catch up with news from the Tour when we can get online. For us today is ‘stage 7’ from Pittsburgh to Ohiophyle, not that our 80 mile ride compares with what the Tour riders go through. It is also our first stage with our own mini peloton now that Michael (McLoughlin) has joined us.

Having three cyclists makes it possible to set a faster pace and to share the load of riding at the front more – so each of us takes a turn up front, while the others tuck-in behind, benefiting from the slipstream. We made good progress, especially considering most of today’s ride was uphill on an unsealed compacted limestone path. Our average pace was 16 mph, one of our best paces of the journey so far! The benefit of the path, built on an old railway line, is that it’s very level with only a gradual incline. A gradual ascent meant no ‘King of the Mountains’ for us – for those who don’t know the King of the Mountains is the title given to the Tour de France rider who wins the most points for mountain stage climbs.

I did, however, get the embarrassing ‘King of the Spills’ title for falling off my bike today – not once, but twice! Even more embarrassingly I was virtually static both times that I went over. Firstly I was coming to a halt at Cedar Creek Park and rode over what looked like a little bit of mud. It turned out to be a little bit of very slippy mud, before I could in clip my shoe from the pedal my wheel was sliding and I was on my side.

The second incident happened just as we’d arrived at the end of today’s section. We’d pulled in at Ohiopyle Station and Mike called me back to stand in front of the station sign to have a group photo. As I turned to wheel back I again didn’t get my foot released in time and plop – I was on my side again. The second incident was more embarrassing, given the number of tourist around and as I actually grazed my knee – nothing serious, but not great for my nicely developing cyclists’ tan. A little later I realised I had a second injury. I could feel that my right toe was sore, upon investigation I found a small cut on the underside knuckle. So there we have it, not only have I gained the ‘King of the Spills’ crown I’ve also discovered a new injury – cyclist’s toe (beat that one Bradley!)

A short film from the start of the Great Allegheny Passage.

We’ve discovered a new (if rather tenuous) link between Pittsburgh and Bristol. The baseball team here in Pittsburgh are called ‘the Pittsburgh Pirates’ while in Bristol one of our (rather rubbish) football teams, (that’s soccer to out US readers), Bristol Rovers are also called ‘the Pirates’. As we cycled out of Pittsburgh this morning we passed PNC Park, the home of the Pirates – a rather more impressive stadium than the Bristol equivalent.

There was a baseball game here last night and the stadium was lit up so brightly you could see it all over town. Our host Patrick was taking us up to Mount Washington to see the city skyline at night. On our way we realised that there were going to be fireworks at the end of the match. We caught a glimpse of the fireworks as we drove up, I couldn’t help thinking the Americans know how to put on a show, you’d be lucky to get an inflatable banana at the end of a Bristol Rovers match.

Nothing to do with Wimbledon – just no wifi in Ohiopyle. The only wifi in town was down due to the storm. Normal blogging will now resume!

Today we bid farewell to Patrick our Pittsburgh Warm Showers host. He’s been a great host despite us being particularly disorganised at replying to his emails and turning up and hour and a half late! I’m sure that when it appears Mike’s daily summary for yesterday will say more about our stay with Patrick but I just wanted to highlight his wall. Patrick is incredibly generous and hosts lots of passing cyclist and back packers. He’s come up with an ingenious way to record his visitors. No conventional visitors book for Patrick, instead one wall of his living room had been painted with blackboard paint and visitors are encouraged to ‘go crazy’ and leave messages on the wall. Patrick photo’s the wall when it’s full then wipes it ready for the next guests. He’s been so hospitable lately that there wasn’t much room on the wall for us, but I’ve manages to squeeze in a few messages – although not enough to really convey our gratitude. Thanks Patrick, you’ve been great!

Today we’ll be back in the saddle – and now we’re three, with Mike (McLoughlin) joining us for the next three days from Pittsburgh to his house in Columbia just outside Washington. After this three leg stage there is only a tiny 35 mile section to complete before we get to Washington, which is a bit sad really :0( Anyway, we’d better make the most of what we’ve got left. I’m very excited about this stretch as we’ll be travelling on the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) – the 150-mile route will connect with the 184.5-mile C&O Canal Towpath at Cumberland, Maryland to create a 334.5-mile traffic and motorised vehicle-free route between Pittsburgh and Washington, DC. We’re only travelling between Pittsburgh and Cumberland today and tomorrow before we switch back to the road as the C&O canal towpath surface is a bit rutted for our bike tyres. The GAP is supposed to be really scenic with the old railroad route weaving its way though wooded valleys, across rivers and under mountains (there are several tunnels including one half a mile long). Mike is a bit concerned about the surface on the GAP trail as it’s mostly compacted limestone not sealed Tarmac, but I think it will be fine as long as it stays dry. We’ve got two shorter cycling days (75 and 77 miles) so we can go a bit slower and still make good time. Watch this space – there could be two daily summaries today if Mike decides to go on the road – because come whatever I’m cycling the GAP!

It seems that our lives have become intertwined with bicycles, more often by chance than by design. Not that I’m complaining – as H.G.Wells put it: ‘When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the human race’. First we came across the Wright Brothers’ Cycle Works in Dayton, (completely unplanned) and now as we get to Pittsburgh we discover to our joy that the Carnegie Science Centre is hosting a fabulous exhibition called ‘Bike: Science on two wheels’, how could we resist?!

The science part was very interesting – lots of interactive things to explain how the bike works – these were mainly designed for the kids, but since I like to think of myself as ‘down there with the kids’ (a UK phrase used to suggest ‘being cool’), I joined in too. However, the main attraction was the amazing collection of bikes on display – or as we could call it: ‘bike porn’! From the very earliest velocipede (a bike with no pedals that you’d wheel along with your feet) and penny farthings right through to the most up-to-date bikes. The collection includes a Singer Tricycle made in Coventry – fancy coming all this way to find a bike made in my home city?!

I was quite taken by the collection of bike posters on display, some of which I’d never seen before. Some may think that the World War II propaganda poster image of Hitler sitting next to someone in their car with the caption ‘When you drive a car you drive with Hitler – Ride Your Bicycle Today!’ a bit harsh – but not Mike! I think this image will be appearing in an office at Bath Spa University soon – perhaps it might even become the University moto for their green travel plan! Pittsburgh has certainly earned itself a gold star with this exhibition, as the logo on the exhibition information boards put it, we were in ‘bicycle heaven’.

When life gets busy, or stressed there is definitely one thing that will help – go biking! There is nothing better to clear the head and help you get a different perspective on what’s really important in life. The pace you go at on two wheels is perfect and gives you time to think, chat and just observe the world around you. It’s not surprising them that a two-wheeled revolution is going on around the UK – indeed around the globe. From London to New York, Chicago to Paris people are turning back onto bikes.We’re really pleased the Bristol is right up there in the cycling revival. In Bristol cycling numbers have almost doubled in the past ten years and now a quarter of all those travelling to work go by bike. The other great result of the interest in biking is the emergence of a new generation of bike cafe. We’ve been enjoying ‘Look Mum No Hands‘ cycle cafe and bike works in London for a few years but we’re very excited that when we get home Bristol will have it’s own community cycle cafe and hub. ‘Roll for the Soul‘ (RftS) opens its doors on Monday 1 July (tomorrow!).

We’re sad we won’t be there for the first day – but I’m sure we’ll make up for it afterwards! RftS emerged from a ‘pop-up’ bike cafe that opened during Bristol’s Bike Festival – after a huge amount of hard work the guys raised funding and secured a location in central Bristol on Nelson Street.

If you’re in Bristol city center, (on bike or not) be sure to pay them a visit – they’ll have great coffee (hopefully with soya milk so Mike can enjoy it too) and a passion for cycling that you won’t find in another cafe in Bristol. Good luck Roll for the Soul – may your lattes be as smooth as a well-oiled bike and your customers flock to you in pelotons – we’ll certainly be there soon!

Following yesterday’s downpours, it’s been a relief that the weather has returned to warm and sunny, perfect for exploring Pittsburgh. We took a stroll along the waterfront, and there’s plenty of it to stroll around. The city was founded at the joining of three rivers – the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela River. The rivers were clearly a boost for trade and industry, but they haven’t always been such a bonus – the city has experienced several major floods in its history. Crossing the rivers are many sturdy steel bridges, Patrick told us that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any city in the world with the exception of Venice. As many are very high up, in retrospect this maybe isn’t the best place to bring a boyfriend who has a fear of crossing very big high bridges! Much work has been done to clean the city up since it was at the centre of the prosperous, but dirty, steel industry. The river walkways are wide and landscapes with trees, benches and public art. The pictures show the Vietnamese war memorial. Where the three rivers meet a park has been created, the Point State Park has at its centre (or point I suppose) a giant fountain set in a large round pool with several smaller fountains besides it. On a hot sunny day, sitting at the edge of the pool with a fine spray of water was perfect for cooling down. The fountain was very popular and there was a wedding party having their pictures taken there. After we visited the park we walked to Downtown and found another pleasant water feature in the Agnes R Katz Plaza. We sat in the cool enjoying people watching. Pittsburgh is a great city – I could easily let it wash over me if we had more time – another place to add to the ‘would like to return to’ list.

Estimated mileage: 105 miles actual: 108.5

Avg. speed: 14.1 mph

Cumulative distance: 591.91

Today was something of a mixed bag – lots of highs and good things, but also some setbacks and frustrations.

We went down to breakfast at the Hampton Hotel to be greeted effusively by Deb, “Your breakfast host,” or perhaps more accurately: the Uriah Heep of Newcomerstown. “Good morning … How are you today? Did you sleep ok? We really do appreciate your staying here. Enjoy your breakfast. Have a great day today. Have a great weekend. If there’s anything that I can get you, anything at all, you just ask.” She went on and on and on – and every time anyone new arrived for breakfast, Deb, (or Debs – she hates being called Deborah), began her obsequious mantra all over again. It was driving me nuts. At first I wondered if she was possibly a cost-saving measure to get people out of the all-you-can-eat breakfast area as quickly as possible, but it seemed that most of the other hotel guests were lapping it up and only me and Matthew were finding her intensely irritating. Anyway, I took her at her word and asked her for soya milk, she said “Oh, no, I’m very sorry sir, but we don’t have that”. I wasn’t surprised and in fairness, lack of soya milk apart, breakfast and other facilities at the Hampton hotels have been good: lots of fruit for me to eat and decent coffee!

Back in our room and I needed to repair the puncture to my rear wheel. Overnight the tyre had deflated, and I found a fine piece of wire embedded in it. Getting the wire out was a bit of a struggle, it was short and sharp and I was trying to prize it out with my penknife – all the while feeling quite nervous about slipping and slicing my finger! Eventually we managed it together and so puncture repaired, we set off at about 10:30.

It was warm and bright, but rain was threatened. There’d be two sections of bicycle trail today: a short section between Bowerston and Jewett, then after Steubenville we’d be joining the Panhandle Trail – a longer section for 30 miles into Pittsburgh.

We left the hotel in Newcomerstown and took highway 151 towards Uhrichsville. We’d only travelled a few miles and we spotted a sign reading: Lock 17. We assumed that this was the next lock on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Behind the trees on the other side of the road we could see some large masonry blocks and we wondered if this was the remains of the lock, so decided to take a look. There was a small house further up an embankment and a young women there asked if she could help. We asked if were looking at the old lock and she said “Yes. I have and old picture that I can show you if you’d like.” She was called Kelly and said that she has six kids. She showed us the old photograph – so much had changed, but the spot was still recognisable. We told her about our trip. She said that she didn’t know how we could cycle all that way. I said that I didn’t know how she could deal with all those kids! (See Matthew’s post on Towpath Tails for more about the canal).

We continued past Uhrichsville and with a tailwind we were really flying – our average speed made it up to 18 mph! Next town was Dennison, it has has a steam train museum alongside the railway line. I’d have really liked to see inside, but there wasn’t time for that today – particularly this early into our day, so I had to make do with a picture of the big black hulk of an engine that was parked outside. Hopefully awaiting restoration.

In Bowerston and time for a quick lunch stop. On the way into town there was a little convenience store staffed by Julie and Bettie. All the sandwiches on display had meat in them and when Matthew asked if they had anything else, they offered to make him a fresh cheese sandwich. Only coffee and some crisps for me though. Julie had lots of Irish ancestry her mother’s family came over in early 1900s and her father came from from England.

Julie and Bettie were lots of fun and we gave them our blog address – so we hope to hear from them again. They laughed and joked about being old and not internet savvy, Bettie said that she was 54 and I said that 50 was the new 40. Julie wondered what the new replacement for 75 was!

We really struggled to find the start of the trail in Bowerston – we’d been told to just go over the bridge and turn right. Trouble is there were two bridges – one had the main highway on it, so we assumed that it was not that one (wrong!) and cycled into the middle of the town. Over the second bridge we expected to be able to access the trail, but we were on a piece of waste ground in front of the railway line. There was a small tunnel under the railway line and as we approached it we could see that the ground was full of water and debris. There was also a swastika graffitied on the wall – we thought that it was just some kind of storm drain, not a cycle route (wrong!). We wondered if perhaps there was another bridge further on, so we rode through the town and out the other side, up a steep hill. We knew that the trail ran parallel to the railway line and it was

unlikely that the railway would have travelled up such a steep hill. So we turned back and went to the second bridge again. We looked at the drain/tunnel/swastika again and really didn’t fancy it. Matthew charged off to look at bridge number one, meanwhile I spotted a women out in a nearby garden with her children. I asked her for directions to the cycle trail. She told me that the it did indeed run on the other side of the railway line and we either go back and over bridge number one (where Matthew had just gone), then turn right, or go through the tunnel – it was a tunnel not a drainl! Or we could go along the road behind her house an cross the railway line just beyond the next house and we’d be on the track. Now I had to locate Matthew. He came back with news that we could go back to bridge number one, etc. rather than climbing uphill yet again or venturing into the tunnel, we opted to try and cross the railway line behind the houses.

I’d assumed that there’d be some sort of level crossing, but there wasn’t – this was becoming really irksome – we’d wasted an hour in Bowerston now, so we carried our bicycles over the railway line – walking over ballast in shoes with cleats on is no fun. But there we were, at the start of The Conotton Creek trail.

After all that hunting for it, the Bowerston trail wasn’t really worth it. It had the worst surface of any trail we’d used so far; really rough, uneven and pitted. it was hard going and I flatted after about 3 minutes. So puncture #4 Mike, rear – a pinch puncture, so two holes in the tube. At least it was easy to locate and fix. We set off through Scio to Jewett where the trail ended.

We had to travel on the main highway 22 to get to Steubenville. It was getting hotter and hotter. There were flashes of lightening accompanied by thunder. We were riding quite fast along route 22. And Then The Storm Came. It was horrendous! It went quite dark, big drops of warm driving rain pelted down and cars whizzed past throwing water everywhere. It was hard to see sometimes. The thunder and lightening and rain continued for about 25 miles. We passed Hopedale and Bloomingdale then left the main road to climb up to Winterville where we decided to take shelter in a filling station. They had coffee and napkins at least! Some of the other (motorized) customers looked at us with pity! We were completely bedraggled. We didn’t know whether to stay put and see if it abated or whether given that we were already completely soaked, we should just continue on. There was still about 40 miles to go. This was not going to be pleasant whatever we did. I was contemplating trying to find a hotel for the night in Steubenville. One of the filling-station customers said that it worse over to the east, (i.e. towards Pittsburgh). We decided that on the basis that it was unlikely to improve that there was no point in waiting and that we’d see how far we’d manage to get. It was 5:00 now and the traffic was pretty bad – riding into Steubenville there were lots of junctions, so lots of stopping and starting, and a horrendous 9% descent on wet roads. Steubenville town centre was rather desolate and run-down – but there was a very nice courthouse.

Just beyond the courthouse I was rather alarmed to see a very ominous-looking bridge over the Ohio River.

Matthew needed to go to the toilet and we noticed some portable ones over by an open air performance area. We headed towards those and saw that we were by a replica wooden fort: Fort Steuben. The portable toilets were locked, so we wondered if there were any at the fort’s visitor centre. There was a metal railing with a gate that opened into the fort – and it was amazing. We were the only people there, the rain was subsiding and all the different parts of the fort were accessible, so we had a look around!

The original Fort Steuben was built in 1786 by the First American Regiment to
protect surveyors who had been sent by the Continental Congress to map
the Northwest Territory from hostile Indians. The replica was built on the 200th anniversary of the fort in 1987. The current buildings are a more-or-less exact copy of the original and had rooms laid to look as they might have done when the fort was first built, (although they obviously wouldn’t have had any shop mannequins from the 1980s dressed in eighteenth century costume in them).

After we’d had a mosey around (and used the toilets), we headed back out of Fort Steuben. A man was walking towards us. “I fear that we may have broken in” I said. “Yes you have”, he replied. Oh dear. It wasn’t on purpose, honest! He was good enough not to charge us any admission and even gave us directions. Going on, of course, meant my having to face That Bridge.

I’ve said it before – I write it again: I just don’t like heights. Being enclosed, like in an aeroplane is fine; having a high barrier between me and the edge, like that time I flew in a hot air balloon – fine. Very high buildings with floor-to-ceiling glass windows? Not fine. Bridges in America with hardly any parapet protection between me and the edge and lattice-work slippery metal surface that it’s possible to see through all the way down? Really not fine! The man at Fort Steuben said that cyclists normally carried their bikes up the steps and ride along the pedestrian walkway. We did that. It Was Horrendous.

The Market Street Bridge is 546.8 meters (1794 feet) long, the walkway has a gap on the left between it and the main bridge. The walkway had slippery fine gravel on it and the ‘barrier’ on the right was really low and it had massive gap at the bottom that it would be easy to fall through in my view. My heart was pounding as we traversed the bridge and there were two points where I just wanted to shut my eyes and curl up and wait to be rescued. Once when my front wheel skidded in the gravel and then when the path had a step as two plates overlapped. I didn’t look down and just focused on Matthew in front. We made it and discovered, (rather unexpectedly that we were in West Virginia and not Pennsylvania as we’d expected – there’s a narrow strip of West Virginia – the Panhandle sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania.

We cycled by the river and passed an evil-smelling iron and steel works. Then turned up Mahan Lane – it was a very steep climb. The roads were strewn with leaves and branches. Some trees had obviously been hit by lightening from the storm – we could see lots of freshly splintered wood. At the top it was drying up and warmer, so we took our raincoats off. A man passed us in a black pickup truck, he slowed and leaned over and shouted out of the window: “Hey, were you guys out in that storm?” When I said yes, it was horrible, he said “Sure was!” It kind of made me feel a bit better – someone else who was local had thought that it was a terrible storm – so it must have been, and we’d ridden through it!

We had some beautiful views across heavily forested valleys as we coasted down in to Colliers to join the Panhandle trail for the final leg of our journey.

We’d been looking forward to this long flat straight section, but it was a disaster. The ground was soft, fine grit and we were sinking in as we rode along, it was really hard going on our knees and we were barely managing 10 mph. It was getting late, we were tired and we’d been soaked. There were still 30 miles to go, but we couldn’t stay on the bicycle trail and we were in the middle of nowhere. So we decided to abandon the trail and take the road, it did mean lots of climbing and descending – but at least we were making progress. We went through some attractive little towns on our way into Pittsburg: Burgettstown, Bulger, Midway, McDonald, Noblestown, Oakdale and Rennerdale. In Carnegie – we had an email from Martin to say that Mike’s (McL, who we were meeting in Pittsburgh) had broken his phone, so he wasn’t able to get the address of where we staying tonight – we forwarded that and continued through Green Tree and the outer suburbs of Pittsburgh where there was another huge and terrible bridge to cross! By now the light was fading, which helped me a bit. We had to lift our bikes over a concrete crash barrier and onto the pavement at the start of the West End Bridge. There was no way that I was cycling on the road – it was getting dark and I discovered that my rear light wouldn’t stay on. it was flooded out. So we went really quickly over the bridge and through the city: Allegheny West, Central Northside and steeply up into Fineview where Patrick lives.

We arrived full of apologies for being late and looking so bedraggled Patrick was charming and friendly. He said that he’d prepared spaghetti and meatballs for us. We both froze. There was no way I was eating meatballs or fishing them out of a tomato sauce. I was trying to work out what to say – and Matthew could see that I was readying myself for what he later said was likely to be a rather long and convoluted explanation about why I couldn’t eat the spaghetti and meatballs, so he came to the rescue and said: “Thank you very much. We’d love to eat the pasta. We’re both vegetarian, in fact Mike’s vegan and I’m vegetarian. So we won’t be able to eat the meatballs.” Patrick was a total star – he didn’t seem in the least bit fazed and offered to make some fresh tomato sauce. He did and that’s what we had.

While we were eating, we were wondering where Mike (McL) was. There was a knock at the door and it was him! Great, so now there are three! Mike (McL) had his own challenges getting to us – the storm that had engulfed us, delayed his flight. As well as his mobile/cell phone dying and not having the address anywhere else, (hence the call to his dad back in Bristol and his dad emailing us), he’d also had trouble with the brakes on the car he’d picked up to get from the airport – but after all that we Mike got to us. Oh, and Mike isn’t vegan or vegetarian, so he ate lots of the meatballs!

Yesterday (28 June) is exactly one month since I started my new job as Boater Liasion Manager with the Canal and River Trust (CRT). You’re probably thinking: ‘What? You started a new job and then went on holiday three weeks after joining?!’ I know, I felt a bit bad about that, but this trip was planned and booked months ago before I’d even seen the job advertised. If my new boss – Sally – is reading this, thanks for being understanding and be assured I’ll work hard to make up for it when I get back!

Anyway, even though I’m on leave I can’t escape canals completely. There are not many canals here in the USA – well not compared with the 2000+ miles of them we have in the UK. They do have some big rivers, (many with super-scary bridges you have to cycle over). Even though the canals are not easy to come across, we’ve managed to find one – or I should say the remnants of one. Just half an hour after leaving Newcomers Town yesterday, we passed a road sign that said ‘Lock 17, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal’, we had to stop and have a look didn’t we? (Mike thinks I’m turning into a gongoozler – the canal equivalent of a train-spotter!). We pulled over to take a look at a stone wall that we though we’re probably part of the old lock.

As we stood looking at them a young women outside a house adjacent called out ‘Can I help you?’. We explained why we’d stopped and Kelly said ‘hold on there, I have a picture to show you’. She went inside and came back with a black and white copy of a photo taken around turn of the last century showing lock 17 in all its glory. With the exception of one white wooden building there was nothing else left that was recognisable from the picture. Much of the canal fell into disrepair following major flood damage in the 1920s and 1930s and only parts of the eastern section of the canal now exist and form part of the cycle route from Cumberland through to Washington, we’ll see some of the remaining canal when we get to Washington but we’re taking to road from Cumberland as the towpath is apparently a bit muddy and rutted for our tyres.

If you’re interested, here’s a bit more history about the canal;

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the “Grand Old Ditch,”operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland, to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about 184.5 miles (296.9 km). The elevation change of 605 ft (184 m) was accommodated with 74 canal locks. To enable the canal to cross relatively small streams, over 150 culverts were built. The crossing of major streams required the construction of 11 aqueducts. The canal also extends through the 3,118 ft (950 m) Paw Paw Tunnel. The principal cargo in the latter years was coal from the Allegheny Mountains. The canal way is now maintained as a park, with a linear trail following the old towpath, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

We have now crossed into the fourth state of our trip, so here’s a little bit about Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is the 33rd most extensive and the 6th most populous state of the USA. It is one of the 13 original founding states. As of 2006, Pennsylvania has an estimated population of 12,440,621. It has a Republican governor, 1 Democrat and 1 Republican senator and 13 of 18 congressman are Republican.

If Pennsylvania were an independent country, its economy would rank as the 18th largest in the world. Pennsylvania ranks 19th overall in agricultural production, but 1st in mushrooms, 2nd in apples, and 3rd in Christmas trees. The U.S. chocolate industry is centered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with Mars, Godiva, and the Wilbur Chocolate Company nearby, and smaller manufacturers such as Asher’s[123] in Souderton, and Gertrude Hawk of Dunmore.

Not a lot of people know that there is a connection between our home town Bristol and Pennsylvania. Admiral Sir William Penn, the father of William Penn (pictured) from who the state was named lived and was buried in Redcliffe Bristol. Here’s the history behind the naming of Pennsylvania:

On February 28, 1681, Charles II granted a land charter to William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000[28] (around £2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation) owed to William’s father, Admiral William Penn. This was one of the largest land grants to an individual in history. It was called Pennsylvania. William Penn, who wanted it called New Wales or Sylvania, was embarrassed at the change, fearing that people would think he had named it after himself, but King Charles would not rename the grant. Penn established a government with two innovations that were much copied in the New World: the county commission and freedom of religious conviction.

We’ve made it to Pittsburgh after a long hot, then wet, day’s ride, (all will be revealed in the daily summary tomorrow). We’re staying with Patrick our Warm Showers host and have met up with our friend Mike who is joining us on the final section of our trip from Pittsburgh to Washington. It’s 12.30 am as I write this and I’m bushed, so I’d better get some sleep ready to spend our day out of the saddle seeing some of the sights down town. We got a brief glimpse of how pretty the city looked as we travelled over the river on our way to Patrick’s (sorry the picture is a bit blurry) – can’t wait to see it in the daylight.

As we crossed the Ohio River from Stuebenville we thought we’d be entering Pennsylvania but instead found ourselves in West Virginia – a long narrow area called the ‘Panhandle’. So here are a few (brief) facts about West Virginia.

West Virginia is the 41st largest state by area and the 38th most populous of the 50 United States. The capital and largest city is Charleston. It has a Democrat governor, 2 Democrat senators and 2 of 3 congressman are Republican.

The state is noted for its mountains and diverse topography, its historically significant logging and coal mining industries, and its political and labour history.

Our cycling trip in the states has coincided with steps forward for gay equality, both here and at home.

On Wednesday a supreme court ruling struck down the controversial federal Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) that discriminated against gay couples in the US and barred them from receiving benefits that married couples of the opposite sex could receive. This is a hugely significant decision, it came about because a woman called Edie Windsor was required to pay inheritance taxes on the estate of her dead partner, Thea Spyer – even though they had been a couple for 40 years, were married and had lived together. Their marriage had taken place in Toronto, Canada in 2007. But the same-sex marriage was not recognized – so inheritance taxes had to be paid – taxes that would not have been required if the couple were heterosexual.

Edie is an inspiration and here she is talking about her life at New Yorker Festival:

     EDITH WINDSOR TALKS ABOUT LOVE

The courts here in America have also dismissed another case challenging same sex marriage in California and therefore restored the right to marriage to thousands of gay and lesbian couples there. What a day!

Meanwhile back in the UK the ‘Marriage (Same Sex) Bill has completed its third and final committee stage in the House of Lords (the UK’s second chamber). The Bill will now have a final report stage, a third and final reading in the Lords and then be considered in its amended form by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Subject to approval the Bill will then receive Royal Ascent and become law. All of which means, in short, that after 19 years together, me and Mike might be able to get married in time for our 20th anniversary in June 2014!

The changes in law taking place on both sides of the pond, and indeed President Obama’s recent statement on his tour of Africa calling for countries there to drop their homophobic laws are a startling reminder of how far equality has moved for the gay community. When I was growing up the UK government were running an AIDS campaign that pretty much said ‘if you’re gay, you’ll probably get AIDS and die – oh and by the way, it’s you’re own fault’. Added to that the government of prime minister Margaret Thatcher also brought in Section 28 of the Local Government Act, which outlawed the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, which in reality meant that many public sector workers (such as teachers, health workers etc.) were being told by the government that they could not offer advice or help to gay people who sought it, so if you we’re a young gay man (as I was) or women who was vulnerable, then if the government were saying, you’re on your own.

It wasn’t much better at the time I met Mike, when the UK parliament was debating the proposed change for age of consent for gay men from 21 to 16 (bizarrely there had never been an age of consent for lesbians, widely rumoured to be because Queen Victoria would never accept that women would do such a thing as have sex with one another!). Back in 1994 I was 19, so still legally not able to have sexual relations with another man even though I had just met Mike and the fact that my straight friends had been ‘legal’ for two year. In a very typically British muddled way, parliament decided to lower the age of consent from 21 to 18 – not 16. We had to wait until 2000 for the Labour government to force through full equality against strong opposition from the right and the House of Lords. I remember feeling very miffed that not only was 18 an outrageous discrimination, but it also meant the age of consent had leapfrogged me and so I would never get that coming of age moment, (I take any opportunity for a party). I was just suddenly ‘legally allowed to have sex’ – but still a long way from being equal. Fortunately, many people (gay and straight) abhorred this hatred and intolerance and fought back, making the gay community stronger and more visible. This in turn, I’m sure has helped change public attitudes and helped get both the USA and the UK to a place where the majority of the population now support same sex marriage. Thank you to all the ‘friends of Dorothy’ and the ‘friends of friends of Dorothy’ fighting for change. We wouldn’t have got this far without you. The important issue is that it’s surely not the job of the state to say who you can fall in love with or who should be allowed to get married. Now we’ll just have to wait to see when (I’m pretty confident now that it’s a when, not if) the law changes to find out if we won’t have a 20th anniversary after all – and maybe we’ll have a first (wedding) anniversary instead.

The great thing about cycling across the USA is that you meet so many really nice and interesting people. Whether it’s people on bikes, walking or those who just start talking to you as we stop outside a shop. People are always interested (and usually amazed) to hear about where we’ve been and where we’re going on our bikes. We always get asked where we’re from and reply ‘Bristol, England’ followed quickly by ‘it’s about an hour and a half from London’. Bristol is sadly not that well known around the world (or even the UK for that matter – we like to think of our (adopted) home city as the ‘best kept secret’. If you’re reading this (whether you’re in the UK or somewhere else in the world) and you’ve not visited Bristol, you should! We are very proud of our city, its very beautiful Clifton Suspension Bridge and the world’s first iron-hulled propellor-driven Atlantic passenger ship – both designed by the 19th century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Bristol is also a very creative city and was where the supersonic plane Concorde was built. The Hollywood film star Carry Grant was also from Bristol – we have a statue of him. More recently the city has become associated with the graffiti artist Banksy who grew up in Bristol and the Oscar winning animator Nick Parks and the firm Aardman Animation. Nick Park’s most famous creation is the wacky inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit (who normally rescues him from scrapes and capers). If you like Wallace and Gromit then this summer is an excellent time to visit Bristol as 80 five feet high statues of Gromit, each decorated by a different artist, are being installed around the city. The trail is to raise funds for our Children’s Hospital and at the end the statues will get auctioned. The Gromits are being installed as we speak, so when we get home they’ll have landed all over town, and as Wallace would no doubt say – they’ll look ‘cracking’!

Those of us who grew up in the 1970s will remember the action children’s TV ‘The Red Hand Gang’. This group of inner-city American kids would solve crimes and then leave their red hand mark on fences in the neighbourhood to show where they’d been.

Mike and I have not been solving any crimes on our travels, (fortunately there haven’t been any for us to solve), but we have developed our own mark. Despite the use of factor 55 sun cream regularly applied, the strong sun on out pale northern European skin has left us with some distinctive marks. Between our cycle glove and the cuff of our sleeves our arms have been well and truly toasted to a reddish-brown. We are the red arm gang! A similar shading happens from the cycle shorts down, Mike calls these tan lines ‘the cyclists badge of honour’. I’m sure I’ll be wearing this particular badge for several weeks after we get home, so perhaps I need to get the tan centre to fill in the white bits in between with a bit of spray!

There’s a saying in the UK that if you’re waiting for a bus for a long time then inevitably when it does arrive, two will come along. We’ve had a similar experience today with our new furry friend the Groundhog. Just two days ago we had never even seen one, today we’ve seen five of them. Usually they have been performing speedy acrobatics as they dart out of our path. Anyway, we’re clearly in Groundhog country so I thought I’d do a bit of research to find out a bit more about them, here’s what I’ve learned.

The Groundhog is also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver. It is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. In the wild, Groundhogs can live up to six years, with two or three being average. In captivity, Groundhogs are reported to live from 9–14 years (so perhaps the message here is that we should all adopt Groundhogs – move over woody the chipmunk!). Groundhogs primarily eat wild grasses and other vegetation, including berries and agricultural crops, when available. Groundhogs hydrate through eating leafy plants rather than drinking from a water source. Groundhogs are excellent burrowers, using burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and hibernating. The average Groundhog has been estimated to move approximately 1 m3 (35 cu ft), or 2,500 kg (5,500 lb), of soil when digging a burrow. Groundhog burrows usually have two to five entrances, providing Groundhogs their primary means of escape from predators (not to be confused with the entrance to a Beaver’s hole, which normally only has one underwater entrance). In most areas, Groundhogs hibernate from October to March or April. Despite their heavy-bodied appearance, Groundhogs are accomplished swimmers and excellent tree climbers.

Famous Groundhogs

Punxsutawney Phil Sowerby is a Groundhog resident of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. On February 2 (Groundhog Day) of each year, the town of Punxsutawney celebrates the beloved Groundhog with a festive atmosphere of music and food. During the ceremony, which begins well before the winter sunrise (which occurs at 7:27 AM Eastern Standard Time on February 2 in Punxsutawney),[1] Phil emerges from his temporary home on Gobbler’s Knob, located in a rural area about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of town. According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an “early spring.”[2] The date of Phil’s prognostication is known as Groundhog Day in the United States and Canada. He is considered to be the world’s most famous prognosticating rodent. During the rest of the year, Phil lives in the town library with his “wife” Phyllis.

In preparing for this trip I have been quite organised. I have prepared lots of plans – routes (check), accommodation (check), bag packing list (check). In fact I thought I had everything covered until yesterday! Whilst reading the Ohio Bike free newsletter when we stopped on the trail at London I was disturbed to find out I’d overlooked a plan – we need a dog plan. This is not to be confused with the other dog plan that Mike has been hatching – to get a dog as soon as the poor old cat goes to the scratching post in the sky – but rather a plan to deal with aggressive dogs we meet on our ride. So far we have not needed this plan but the Ohio Bike newspaper assured us we need ‘something to squirt at the dog, something to make a loud noise (they suggested a siren canister), something to best the dog off with and most important a cell phone (or mobile as we would say) to call for assistance’. Being the USA there was a large section of advice on all the evidence you need to collect to be able to make your legal claim against the dogs owner and also a section on federal legislation letting you know when it’s appropriate to kill said attacking dog (in self-defence obviously) without being prosecuted. We have been lucky so far only to have met friendly dogs (including the lovely Gemma who belongs to Brooke and Melissa in Columbus) but in case that changes I am now developing a ‘dog plan’ which largely involves pedalling a lot faster than the dog!

The image of the USA that we’re fed in Europe is often very far removed from the experiences we have when we cycle here. The news and cinema footage would have you believe that Americans are all red-neck, gun-touting, inward-looking, aggressive people who drive giant cars and who are stinking rich. It’s true that their cars are generally the size of small British houses, but they drive much slower than maniac UK drivers and the roads are much wider so you feel quite safe on a bike. The people we’ve met on our trips dispel much of the conventional stereotypes we’re fed in the UK. All the Americans we’ve met have been generous to a fault, extremely interested in our travels and to hear about the UK and Europe and have much more progressive political views than many media commentators back home would have us believe. As for being wealthy, yes there are lots of well off people, but there is also a lot of poverty too. You notice this travelling on a bike where the broken down and boarded up houses stand out amongst the neatly trimmed lawns and white picket fences. In some of the small rural towns we’ve travelled through its been quite stark to see the poorer neighbourhoods and closed down shops on Main Street whilst on the outskirts of these places are miles of sprawling retail sheds and fast food joints. Some parts of the ‘American Dream’ are clearly not working for everyone. Cycling along I can hear the voice of Matt Fry (former BBC USA correspondent now at Channel 4 news) talking about ‘the other America’ – the poor America that is plain to see in the richest nation on earth. Rich or poor however, Americans are warm and hospitable, if this could be translated into cash they’d all be wealthy.

It turns out today’s riding was a bit like yesterday’s with more miles of great Rail to Trail routes – although we weren’t awoken by the sound of Sonny and Cher singing ‘I got you babe’. We did, however, become a bit wiser about local wildlife. Yesterday I mentioned that we had been in a close encounter with what we thought was a beaver, well it turns out we were wrong. Clearly I wouldn’t know a beaver if it hit me in the face – or in our case ran parallel to us for 100 feet. Whilst talking to a group of women visiting the Wright brothers’ Heritage Centre in Dayton earlier today we described our close encounter with the furry friend. They knew instantly that this was not a beaver – silly us – but rather a groundhog! These women clearly know their beavers from their groundhogs better than us. Of course now we know it was a groundhog we’re kind of wishing we stopped and set it some kind of test to predict the weather for the remainder of our vacation. Sadly not only are we not beaver spotters but we’re not Bill Murray and Andi McDowell either!

There is a great discussion in parts of the UK right now about the government’s proposed second high-speed rail route. The first phase of this line would pass through some very picturesque parts of the country such as the Chiltern Hills. Driving transport links through beautiful countryside isn’t a new thing, we’ve been doing it for centuries. In the 1700s when the canal boom got going the routes tended to twist around, following the contour of the land and avoiding the need for expensive tunnels and locks. Of course the canals were soon to be superseded by railways, which were built in much straighter lines and were faster. There lies the crux of the matter with high-speed rail. High-speed trains need very straight rails and building long straight tracks is hard to do without hitting something (such as the Chilterns). This clearly wasn’t an issue for the builders of the Ohio and Erie Railway, part of the route that we cycled on today. The route felt as if someone had drawn a straight line on a map from a to b and that was the line of the railway. The track stretched out ahead of us for miles and miles only twisting slightly when we reached roads.

The straightness of the trails and the fact that they’re fairly flat makes it possible to really pick up speed, at times were cycling along at 25 mph. Our thanks go to those earlier railway pioneers, without you we wouldn’t be enjoying the ride quite so much!

It’s been a British kind of cycling day today – first the customer service at the Dayton Grand was very British, (in a not very helpful sort of way) and not what we’re used to in the USA. Then we cycled through London, not our London clearly, but a very pleasant town just over halfway between Dayton and Columbus. It didn’t look very British – rather quintessentially Midwestern USA, lots of timber buildings with pretty porches, but they had a fab welcome sign as the trail entered town, we had to stop and take pictures. The thing that really made it feel British today though was the weather. It was in the 80s again for most of the day but at about 65 miles as we approached Columbus a storm broke and boy did it rain. Fortunately we had rain coats and lights so a quick stop to don those and we carried on. It’s always a bit nerve racking riding in the rain after a long warm spell a) the roads can be quite slippy so you can fall over and b) often bits of glass and metal get floated to the surface making punctures much more likely. We were lucky that neither happened. The rain continued pretty much all the way to Columbus but unlike British rain it was very warm and so a bit like cycling in a warm shower. I did ponder stripping off and doing a mini naked bike ride into town, but my British reserve kicked in and I refrained.

As with previous US cycle trips we’ve been splitting our accommodation between Warm Showers (WS) – the network of touring cyclist and friends of touring cyclists (some hosts are not even riders) and hotels/motels. The WS hosts have been great without fail, we’ve met some lovely people. The hotels on the other hand have been hit and miss. The first hotel in Rochester was OK, fairly basic but clean. Their laundry room closed at 10 pm for some inexplicable reason. The only exception to the cleanliness was the advertised pool, which clearly had a serious problem with the filtration system. Hotel number two in Muncie was actually nice. Unfortunately, hotel number three really bummed. The Dayton Grand sounded so promising, I had visions of an old downtown hotel in a traditional style. What we got instead with a lot of faded grandeur with dodgy pipes, (they had to move us to another room with hot water), Wi-fi that kept cutting out, no in-hotel laundry and no soya milk. The staff were equally hopeless sending us on a wild goose chase to find a laundry that we never found. The problem with booking hotels online in advance is that the pictures can look nice, but the reality is sometimes far removed. On things for sure my TripAdvisor comments on the Dayton Grand will not be positive!

Ohio is the seventh most populous state in the union with 11.5 million people living here.

Ohio’s population growth lags that of the entire United States, and Caucasians are found in a greater density than the United States average.
The largest ancestry groups (which the Census defines as not including racial terms) in the state are: 26.5% German, 14.1 Irish, 9.0% English, 6.4% Italian
7.6% from the other Slavic countries.
It has a Republican Governor, 1 Democrat and 1 Republican senator and 8 of 12 congressman are Republican.

The state capital and largest city are Columbus – where we’ll cycle to today.
Ohio is known for its status as both a swing-state and a bellwether in national elections – hence you may see a lot of TV reports from Ohio during US presidential election campaigns.

The manufacturing and financial activities sectors each compose 18.3% of Ohio’s GDP, making them Ohio’s largest industries.
The headquarters of Procter & Gamble, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, AK Steel, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Wendy’s (national restaurant chain) are all based in Ohio.

The state bird of Ohio is also the Cardinal.

Famous Ohioans include Orville and Wilbur Wright (aeroplane inventors), Neil Armstrong, Dorris Day (worth knowing as I cycle along singing ‘Secret Love’!), Paul Newman and Rob Lowe.

There is a familiar phrase that is heard in our house – a phrase uttered almost exclusively by Michael. It goes something like this ‘you’re always glued to your iPad/iPhone’. It’s a fair-cop, I admit it. I cannot sit still without having something to do – these devices give me the perfect opportunity to multi-task. However, I think that the next time this phrase is used on me I will be whipping out the holiday snaps I’ve been taking. So much for quiet moments together sharing our thoughts of the days ride. No chance. Every opportunity he has, Mike is blogging – recording in meticulous detail the events of out trip. I hope the attention to detail is appreciated by you, dear reader, and perhaps by some Hollywood scout on the hunt for the next road trip movie idea!

Riding at around 15 miles an hour is the perfect speed to take in not just the scenery but also the wildlife – and there has been lots of it! On our first ride of this trip (just after the incident with the chasing dog) we passed a stream besides a wood. The light was dimming, but stood in the water, it’s silhouette clearly contrasting with the water was a beautiful deer. A little further along the road we saw another deer, this time leaping through the corn fields. Today we have seen a lot of wildlife – some of it with a death wish. Not long after setting off from our hotel this morning we came to a six lane highway interchange where a family of ducklings (no mum or dad to be seen) we’re waddling their way through the traffic. Most of the cars were slowing down but it was terrifying to watch. We contemplated for a moment whether we should intervene – but though we’d probably make things worse. We crossed our fingers for the ducklings and pedalled off. Once on the Cardinal Greenway we were surrounded by nature. First there was the startling red Cardinal birds (the state bird of Indiana) that kept darting along the path in front of us. Next there was the chipmunks who seemed to be playing a game of chicken with us as they hurled themselves across the path in front of our wheels. We didn’t get any, but it was a close run thing. Then there was the thin black snake coiled up on the edge of the trail, (it moved out of the way quickly), followed shortly after by a turkey that strolled across in front of us. However, the most extraordinary wildlife event of the day was our close encounter with a Beaver. I say a Beaver, we’re pretty sure it was but as neither of us have much experience in the Beaver dept, we could be wrong. It could be a muskrat. Anyway, as we approached we first thought that there was a rock on the path, as we got closer the rock started to move – but not to the side into the undergrowth but straight on. Before we knew it we had formed a Peleton with a Beaver. Mike on one side, me on the other and our gnawing friend in the middle. Thankfully we soon outpaced him and left him to chew on some logs . Hopefully we won’t encounter any more kamikaze animals on this trip.

In a country with a serious weight problem building in ‘active travel’ solution (as we call them in the UK) is a ‘no brainer’. Good quality walking and cycle routes, close to where people live is a good way to get people exercising, which is why it’s good to see so many fantastic rail to trail routes. Yesterday’s Nickel Plate Trail and today’s Cardinal Greenway are just two examples of hundreds of miles of well maintained Tarmac routes in Indiana alone. What is completely shocking though is that these treasures are virtually hidden from local people. On all the trails we’ve ridden so far we have barely seen a handful of other people using them. On the Cardinal Greenway today we saw 10 people in 35 miles and two of them were maintaining the path – not cycling! Until you actually reach the trails over here there is absolutely no signage telling people they are there. In the UK most long distance cycle routes will have signed directions from nearby streets – but not here. We only found out about most of the routes we’re riding thanks to the marvellous Google Maps cycle route planner, (although it’s annoying that they don’t pay their taxes). When we’ve been a bit uncertain about where the trails start we’ve occasionally asked a passer-by, even though they’re local, none of them (without exception) knew there even was a cycle trail! A serious lesson in signage is needed – I feel a letter coming onto several US city Mayors, maybe I’ll take to the top and write to the state governor. It’s a shame that these routes are barely known about and used.

Breakfast in the USA, like almost every other meal seems to be dominated by sweet things. Cereals, waffles, muffins, pastries and (a little bit of) fruit are in abundance. Now I like a fruity bun in the morning as much as the next guy – but the relentless sweet-fest first thing in the morning is becoming a bit of a bore. I can’t wait to get back to the UK for a nice slice of Marmite on toast – the uniquely British salty savoury breakfast condiment. They say you either love or hate Marmite, I’m definitely in the love camp. It’s not just breakfasts that are sweet here – when you go into the supermarket and start reading the ingredients on packets you’d be hard pushed to find anything that doesn’t contain corn-syrup. It’s really not surprising that there are so many fat people in the US, bad food combined to an obsession with driving everywhere has resulted in an obesity epidemic, It’s a worrying trend we’re also starting to see in the UK. I think the Americans could do with weening off their sweet tooth, and ‘my mate, Marmite’ could be just the thing to do it!

In the UK we have seen over the past 15 years the creation of the National Cycle Network, often bringing disused railways back into use as walking and cycle paths. Many people back in the UK might be surprised to find out that the USA has quite a few old railway cycle paths as well and many of them run for miles. The start of our route today from Rochester (Indiana) took is along one such trail for about 20 miles. The Nickel Plate Trail runs for about 36 miles in total (although there are plans to extend it). We covered the northerly section today that links Rochester with Peru, via a few other places with familiar names including Birmingham, Denver and Lovers Lane! The scheme in the US is called rails to trails, it has successfully used the Federal Railbank Programme to secure many old railway routes for walking and cycling. Tomorrow we’ll head out of Muncie on another of these trails, the Cardinal Greenway, which at almost 60 miles is the longest greenway in Indiana. Although the name sounds religious the trail actually takes its name from the last passenger train to regularly travel the route (Chicago-Cincinnati-Washington): the Cardinal. The train service in turn derived its name from the state bird of all five states which it traversed. With just over 80 miles to cover in total, I hope we’ll be as quick as a bird and get to Dayton, Ohio in good time.

I enjoy cooking, and I’ve always been a fan-oven user, (and I’ve never been disappointed with the results), but I have never considered combining my love of baking with my love of biking – until now. Cycling yesterday from Chicago, Illinois to Rochester, Indiana was absolutely roasting. We set off fairly early (about 8.30 am) but even at that time of day the heat was already tipping 70F. Riding the first section along Lake Michigan was a relief as the breeze off the water kept things more bearable. Unfortunately as we turned eastwards inland the dial on the thermometer just kept rising. For most of the day the temperature was in the 80s and extremely humid. As we headed south east we were riding most of the 126 miles into a headwind (bar the last 35). Headwinds are normally pretty soul destroying for the cyclist, this one was to a degree, but heaven knows how hot we would have been without the breeze. The ride felt a bit like cycling through a giant fan oven. We had to drink lots of liquids to keep us going, some with energy powders to replace the salts we lost through sweat and all (wherever possible) with ice. I am beginning to seriously appreciate the value of ice machines! One thing is for sure, cycling 12hrs at 80 degrees certainly results in firm buns and a golden finish!

Indiana has a population of 6 million – and from what I’ve seen so far they mostly live in the middle of nowhere, (although this isn’t actually the case – 77.7% of Indiana residents lived in metropolitan counties, 16.5% lived in micropolitan counties and 5.9% lived in non-core county). Indiana is a very Republican state (a Republican governor and 7 of 9 US congressmen are Republican). There are a lot of churches, most seem to be in the middle of nowhere and often have a white cross stuck in the ground with a broken red heart on it and the phrase ‘In memory of aborted children’.

The roads are long and very flat – which makes it a bit dull to cycle on, (I’ve started counting telegraph poles – about 20 makes a mile).

German is the largest ancestry reported in Indiana, with 22.7% of the population reporting that ancestry in the Census. This might account to what appears to be a very meat-based diet! Although that seems to be the case in most parts of the US.
Indiana is located within the U.S. corn belt and grain belt. The state has a feedlot-style system raising corn to fatten hogs and cattle. I think we saw most of the corn on our 126 mile ride yesterday – and there is a lot of it! They also grow mint too, we saw (and smelled) several fields if that too – very refreshing on a long ride.

Indiana is crossed by the Lincoln Highway – one of the first transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States of America, (it runs from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco). Constructed in 1913 it was the first interstate highway to have numbered intersections and was also the first national monument to Abraham Lincoln – pre dating the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. We rode on a long stretch of it today and I’m sure Lincoln will be delighted to be remembers with a long strip on road continuously populated by McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Taco Bells, Dairy Queen and numerous other fine dining opportunities. Most significantly, the Lincoln Highway inspired the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which was championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, influenced by his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway was also the scene of our first puncture of the trip – not that this is something to be remembered by.

So there you have it, Indiana a state of corn, cars and churches. Roll on Pennsylvania!

We’re having a short break on the first cycling stage of our trip. Professional cyclists eat on the go, but there are no musette bags for us! It is mighty hot today – about 80F/27C, so for once I’m quite glad there is a headwind. There’ll be a full update in Mike’s ‘daily summary’, (they’re always very informative, even if his definition of ‘summary’ is perhaps stretching things somewhat!!). In the meantime I can report that we have crossed the state line and are now in Indiana. I know very little about Indiana – but I’ll try to change that today, so I can fill in back later. Until later it’s back in the saddle for us, 40 miles down – 85 to go!

Sadly, we bid farewell to Chicago today. As Dorris Day would say: ‘It might not have what we got’ but it certainly has a lot else. We had a fabulous visit and would love to come back again. We’ll be departing along the lakeside path, so that should be a really nice exit to the city.

To mark our final evening we headed back to Millennium Park to hear the free summer concert performed by the Grant Park Orchestra, (we’d heard them rehearsing yesterday). We were treated to some contemporary Chinese classical music first from the composer Qigang Chen. I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t exactly Mike’s cup of tea! The second half was more to his liking though: Fauré’s Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, op. 80 and Ravel’s La Valse. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the concert – from young families with children to older people. It was a beautiful evening for picnicking under the stars, too, warm and balmy. The Frank Geary designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion looked superb as dusk descended and the city skyline lit up behind it. Before we left the park we bid our farewells to the ‘Bean’ and the Crown Fountain – both looking equally stunning by night as they had by day.

Thank you Chicago – you’ve been great!

We’ve had a wonderful couple of days in Chicago – being given lots of insider tips and knowledge from Bonnie, which is a real bonus of staying with local people through the Warm Showers scheme. There was one real tourist thing I wanted to do: the downtown area of Chicago is encircled with an elevated railway line called the Loop (or L). The first part of the elevated railway was built in 1892 to help alleviate the increasingly congested streets. However, the real reason I wanted to have a trip on the Loop was because it features in the 1995 romantic comedy movie: ‘While You Were Sleeping’ staring Sandra Bullock! In the movie she works as Lucy an El station ticket collector. Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) is a lonely token collector on the Chicago Transit Authority who has a secret crush on a handsome commuter named Peter Callaghan, whose name Lucy does not know. On Christmas day, she rescues him from an oncoming train after a mugger pushes him onto the tracks (Randolph/Wabash Station was used in the film). He falls into a coma, and she accompanies him to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her musing aloud, “I was going to marry him.” Misinterpreting her, the nurse tells his family that she is his fiancée. At first she is too caught up in the panic to explain the truth. She winds up keeping the secret for a number of reasons: she is embarrassed, Elsie (Peter’s grandmother) has a heart condition, and she quickly comes to love being a part of Peter’s big and loving family. One night, thinking she is alone while visiting Peter, she confesses about her predicament. Saul (Peter’s godfather) overhears the truth and later confronts her, but tells her he will keep her secret, because the accident has brought the family closer.

Funny how a film about a women desperation for a man, (after all we know that all women need a good man – not!), who is in fact a stalker and compulsive liar can turn out to be such a warm-hearted rom-com. Anyway film or not, the views of downtown Chicago from the Loop are worth the ride – just be careful not to fall on the tracks in case Sandra Bullock is lurking!

I love visiting different climate zones and seeing what sort of plants grow there. I kind of expected to see lots of grasses, echinacea (cone flowers) and other prairie-style plants in Chicago, but what has surprised me is the number and range of hostas there are. Everywhere we go – be it in planters in front of office buildings, in front gardens or in public parks – they appear to thrive. Every size and colour of hosta, from the tiniest ones with leaves live mouses ears to the huge ones that have leaves that are the size of giant dinner plates. Clearly the long cold winters that they get here in Chicago are too severe for the dreaded slugs that attach our hostas in the UK. The wonderful hostas in Chicago are completely hole free.

I feel a bad case of plant envy coming on. I love hostas (something I think that I must have inherited from my mum), but my attempts at growing them has been dismal. Despite every conceivable deterrent I have tried: slug pellets, coffee grinds, crushed egg shells, garlic liquid applied to the leaves, sheep’s wool pellets, beer baths – the slugs still manage to get through and munch away until the plants look like lace! This year in a final attempt the one hosta I have remaining has been elevated in a pot onto a table – but I’m not holding out much hope that by the time I get home the little critters won’t have defeated me again.

It isn’t going to come as a surprise to anyone who knows us that we love bicycles! Why else would we choose to spend our holidays cycling nearly 900 miles across the USA, when most people would take a plane, train, bus or drive a car? The bicycle is wonderful on so many levels, so it’s great to meet people who also think so, too, and to see the best form of transportation represented in their home decor.

Bonnie has a little selection of bike books and guides, held up by a lovely pair of bicycle bookends. The splendid meal she and Frank prepared for us on our first night was accompanied by equally delightful table napkins adorned with bicycles. Best of all though, was the lovely bike pendant that Bonnie wears – given to her by Frank for Christmas. When someone gives you a bike, (in whatever form) you know it has to be love!

After dinner last night Bonnie took us up to the 23rd floor of her apartment building (Museum Place) to see the residents’ gym, community room and open-air rooftop pool – all with fantastic views across the city downtown skyline and Lake Michigan. You’ll note from the picture that one of the office buildings has the supportive message ‘Lets go Hawks’. The Hawks in question are the Chicago Blackhawks ice hockey team. Currently they are head-to-head in the Stanley Cup finals against the Boston Bruins. Obviously, my knowledge of USA Ice Hockey is pretty limited, but from what I can work out the finals appear to comprise a series of matches alternating between the competing teams’ home stadiums. The next round of this battle takes place in Chicago this evening – hence the message on the skyscraper. I wonder if similar encouraging Bristolian messages would improve our local football teams performances back in Bristol? Perhaps ‘Come on my babbas’ or ‘You’re gurt lush City’ might look good on the side of the Colston Tower or former Bristol and West building? The way they’re going anything is worth a try!

The Cloud Gate artwork in Millennium Park is amazing – beautifully simple, but it attracts and engages people with modern art in a way I’ve never seen before. The polished steel creates a superb reflective surface that not only captures to beautiful Chicago skyline but also is great fun to play around with your own reflection – a bit like those ‘hall of mirror’ attractions you used to find in old fairgrounds. We had fun not only with our own reflections but also with our bikes – why should they be left out of the party?! The locals have affectionately renamed the work designed by British sculptor Anish Kapoor ‘The Bean’, at $23 million to create, it certainly didn’t come cheap – but from what we saw in our brief visit it was money well spent.

The Crown Fountain in Millenium Park is such fun – you can see from this short film just how popular it is with kids and adults alike – no ‘keep out of the fountain’ signs here! The work designed by designed by Catalan conceptual artist Jaume Plensa and executed by Krueck and Sexton Architects. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of transparent glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet (15 m) tall, and use light-emitting diodes behind the bricks to display randomly selected digital videos of the faces of almost a thousand Chicago residents. The faces change every 15 minutes, so you’d have to wait quite a while to see them all – but do watch to the end of the film to see the fountains amusing surprise revealed!

While plants and gardens are my passion, Mike loves classical music. We were really lucky to be in Millennium Park as the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra were rehearsing for a performance in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which was designed by Frank Ghery. This delightful piece (it was Rave’s La Valse he said), will feature in the concert later today – we’re hoping to go back to watch it. The Grant Park Festival is the USAs only remaining series of free municipally-supported outdoor classical music concerts – well done Chicago!

One of the major reasons that I wanted to come to Chicago was to visit the Millennium Park. Opened in 2004 – (four years late, so the Brits are not the only ones who can’t meet a deadline!), it’s on the site of the Illinois Central Rail yards and is now Chicago’s second most popular tourist destination after Navy Pier. It comprises gardens with beautiful planting, imaginative sculptures, fountains and performance spaces. For anyone who knows me, you’ll be unsurprised to find that it was the gardens and planting that particularly attracted me, and I wasn’t disappointed. The Lurie Garden, designed by designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel is simply delightful. The planting is very informal with drifts of prairie and herbaceous plants mixed with grasses in beautiful waves. Running through the centre of the garden is a stunning river of blue Salvias.

Understandably the garden is very popular, it even has its own volunteer greeting team who give out information about the plants and design. While I wandered around the garden Mike and Bonnie started a conversation with the volunteers and by the time I’d returned to them one of the greeters was telling Mike all about the gardens she’d visited in England. Human visitors were not the only ones attracted to the planting. As I snapped away with my camera, out of the planting popped a tiny bunny rabbit who hopped around on the path a while before jumping back into another planting bed – I wasn’t expecting that in downtown Chicago!

After a little longer enjoying the park, the humidity of the day gave way to a heavy summer storm. It was nearly lunchtime so we dived into a small French café and grabbed a bite to eat. The rain was still coming down when we’d finished so Bonnie took us across the road into the Chicago Cultural Centre, a beautiful building with marble and mosaic walls and stunning Tiffany glad dome. Originally built in 1897 as Chicago’s first public library, it was turned into venue for music performances and art exhibitions when the new public library was opened in 1991 – although shockingly it was under threat of demolition for some time before then. Our visit coincided with a gospel singing festival so we were treated to some fine (if very loud) music too.

We were also fortunate to stumble across a small free exhibition on the lives of Chicago modernist artists Alfonso and Margaret Ilanelli. The exhibition was a real treat, featuring their sculpture and graphic design work from the start of the twentieth century through to the 1960s. Amongst the work on the display was a pier capital for an Indiana elementary school designed by Alfonso and a wonderful children’s story book, (never published) by Margaret – both featured a rabbit, so it felt as though the bunny in the Millennium Park had been a foretaste of what was to come! By the time we’d finished wandering around the cultural centre the rain had stopped so we hopped on our bikes (get it!) and our tour of Chicago resumed.