Sunday 28^th March , Country Hearth Hotel , Harrodsburg, Ky Day 14

20.00

Breakfast this morning was oat meal and toasted bagels eaten, sitting in the lobby of the hotel, watched by a sleepy clerk. It was now British Summer Time at home while here the Weather Channel was trailing an hour long special on tornados.

Out on the road by 08.15 and the first 6 to 8 miles were on wonderful, flat, empty roads. Even when it started to drizzle it felt good to be gliding along. The rain gradually got much heavier later but with waterproofs on, it didn’t matter that much. The hills were much gentler now and we kept up a good steady pace. I definitely prefer cold conditions. Give me bad weather over hills anytime.

Much more open country today and the mountains are gradually receding. Or so Mike says, I still get a bit nervy every time we go around a bend. Nevertheless, today was probably the easiest for cycling so far and very welcome it was too. Mike and I agree that 40 miles or 5 hours a day is the optimum for comfortable cycling. Usually we are forced to exceed this by about ten miles and/or an hour. That’s just the way it goes.

We did have one moment of drama today. About ten miles from Harrodsburg, a bridge we were due to cross was closed for repairs. If we couldn’t get across, it would add another 25 miles to our journey. I could feel the lower lip trembling again as another late arrival loomed. But no, as the Indiana Jones theme tune suddenly struck up, we stormed the bridge. Clambering over the side through a hole in the fence and hoisting our bikes and bags up behind us, we scurried across, weaving our way through cement mixers, fork lift trucks and generators. Mike did get a bit carried away, making machine gun noises and throwing imaginary hand-grenades, but it was still stirring stuff.

Then it was all downhill to Burgin “the friendliest little city in America” according to the guide book. Well, the people in the Village Diner were very nice and so were the Burgin Burgers.

The last 4 miles from Burgin to Harrodsburg were a bit of a slog on a full stomach but we made it with a minimum of obscenities. The waitress in the diner had told us about the Country Hearth and it was a good shout. Dinner was in the Dairy Queen next door. My second burger of the day washed down with iced tea. Still tomorrow we should be in Bardstown, the Bourbon capital of the world. I love those biscuits.