5th Feb.

On the road by 8:30am, perishing cold, with clear blue sky.  Apparently temperatures are ranging from -3°C to 2°C, plus a headwind as I turn east inland.  Portland signs; 89 miles, 62 miles, 56 miles, 47 miles, still ice by the side of the road in the afternoon. So far I've had the comfort of cycle map pages, with elevation charts, but now I'm veering away from the coastal route, so I don't know how the road will be.  It was wise to have stayed on the coast until the last 2 days cycling, it's noticeably more wintery inland, also, pretty featureless cycling - long straight road sections, not much along the way.  As I'm heading east, at the end of the afternoon my pedalling shadow is now directly in front of me, the low sun behind to the west. 

Something I've noticed is that certain folk can be very forthcoming with their opinions.  Sometimes this is fun, sometimes it's not.  Unsolicited, doom and gloom opinions on other people's adventures, I don't have much patience with at the best of times, and when it is actually freezing, and my toes are numb, I have even less patience!  My tactic so far has been to laugh it off, and say goodbye.  Maybe if I was a guy, I'd have a big beard by now, and complete strangers would think twice about telling me what I need, and what I should and shouldn't be doing, whether that's heading north, cycling in winter or travelling alone.  Being female and 5 foot 2 sometimes works in my favour, and sometimes doesn't.  Thankfully these irritations have been few.  I'm getting cranky in the cold!

Found a corner of a field to camp on, behind some trees, out of sight of the road.  Amusing, in a fashion, to find that my damp tent had frozen stiff on the back of my bike, and needed icy crystals shaking out of it.  I could have found another motel and been warmer, but I'd have been dissatisfied on some level.  Funny mentality that...