Friday 21^st May Timber Lodge Inn, Cle Elum, Washington.

17.00

I think I owe a bit of an apology to Yakima. The outskirts are truly hideous but there is an old historic centre, around what was once the train depot, that is actually quite charming. We discovered this when we decided to go out after all last night. It seemed a bit daft to be surrounded by all these wineries and not to sample any of the products On Front Street, we found a very jolly little bar called Bob's Keg and Cork that produces its own beer and wine. Over a couple of hours, we sampled quite a lot of these, while continuing to tell each other how important it was not to get too drunk as we had a long day ahead of us. Both beer and wine were excellent and Bob’s is one of the nicest bars I’ve been in on this trip. It was probably a mistake to visit the hotel bar when we got back but I am definitely in demob mode now. It was pretty gloomy and I ended up watching CSI something or other, with a barman and a couple of very camp young men who were desperately trying to make their clerical jobs in TV production sound as important as possible. I told them I was in sewage processing and the conversation sort of died away.

Our hotel was hosting some sort of teachers conference. A herd of what my Principal calls "bag ladies" were milling around with badges saying "delegate" and "educator", at breakfast this morning. Clipboards everywhere. Nearly everyone seemed scheduled to be giving a talk to everyone else. One very bossy woman was frog-marching a number of hotel flunkies around demanding that seats be aligned, tables be moved, lecterns be put in place, “This was all arranged six months ago…. AND I SHALL NEED A MICROPHONE!”. This last was most definitely not the case.

We got to Cle Elum after a fairly easy 62 miles. (The name is from an Indian phrase that means “swift water”) Cool and sunny with no noticeable wind. Two canyons took up most of the day. The first, in Yakima, was very impressive, 30 miles long, very narrow with long winding hillside roads. The other, just outside Cle Elum, was just ten miles, much broader, greener and it reminded me a lot of Scotland. An enjoyable cycle and ,more importantly another day done. We saw Seattle on a road sign for the first time this afternoon which gave me quite a lift. 86 miles to go!. 56 of these are scheduled for tomorrow, on the Interstate 90. Our guide book says it’s the only way to get to North Bend and a check with Google Maps more or less confirms this. We thought that going on the interstate is illegal. We’ll find out tomorrow. Be sure to sign the “Free the Seattle two.” petition if necessary.

Cle Elum doesn’t look wildly exciting but there’s a place up the road called “The Caboose” which might be worth investigating