Our Ocean (USA Day 167)

Here’s a fun thing. Say ‘Saint Augustine.’ If you’re from Britain, you’ll stress the first and third syllables. If you’re from America, you’ll stress the second and forth. If you’re of joint nationality, presumably you’ll just shout the whole lot.

This was hot on my mind as we had a brief sight-see of the oldest town in America, which is an accolade about as impressive as World’s Ugliest Model or Hull’s Fastest Tortoise. There was a pretty fort with crumbling walls and old cobbled streets to trundle down (self-consciously, I’d say. My bike has started making the oddest squeaking when I walk it, not when I ride, and no amount of oil will change that). Many of the authentically old buildings, which must be discerned from the replicas through Holmes-esque deduction, have been built with Coquina stone. It’s a mixture of shells and cement, and really reminds me of structures in the Outer Hebrides. It’s always satisfying to see natural resources being used in one or another ingenious way.

The riding was ridiculous today. Pushed along by a positively gale-force Atlantic breeze, we gallivanted south using our bodies as sails rather than actually pedalling. A familiar roar came from a familiar ocean, and we spent every spare moment gazing out into the rough waves, delighted to be back so close to home.

Even freewheeling builds up an appetite, so we stopped for our first fish ‘n’ chips in America at a roadside dive bar doing great business in fried food. A country musician serenaded the scene, the noises he made upon his guitar being only a small percentage of the polyphony coming from the speakers. Now there’s nothing wrong with using a backing track, but then when you throw the set open for requests, what do you expect will happen?

“Play Here Comes The Sun!” demanded a fish-eater.

“I don’t, err…play that. I do have Love Me Do.”

The man went back to eating his fish.

Our seafood selection basket included strips of clam, deep fried oysters and yes, battered haddock. Happy as Larries, we ate up the lot and then found that a secret admirer had paid for it. A lovely man and his wife had either taken pity on us or felt very impressed, so the fish was on them.

We pulled up at Joy and Howard’s with the sun still high, and made ourselves comfortable in their gorgeous house. The idea (and what an idea) of resting tomorrow is incredibly exciting for me. If I’m not horizontal at any point, strike me down so that I may adopt aforementioned position.

Today: 57 Miles

Total: 7381 Miles