6th Feb.

The toughest day yet, only 30 miles, and so close to Portland.  Tent packed up early, bike hauled over brambles back onto the road, -6°C, battling into a headwind, pedalling in low gears on the flat, snow in the wind now, face stinging, squinting ahead, sunglasses on, ice freezing my eyebrows to my sunglasses, metal bottle cracked open with ice.

A couple of guys in a truck handed me a Snickers bar out of their window.  'I'm so proud of you! Keep going!' - that was great!  Turned down a couple offers of lifts, I really appreciated it, but in the last 20 miles I'm not going to just jump in a truck, snow or no snow!  Really thought I was going to make it into downtown Portland, but the snow was getting heavier, visibility worse, and when it seemed like blizzard conditions I admitted defeat, and trudged along the side of the road, trying to see through my icy sunglasses, until a motel appeared.  Lovely Indian couple at the desk this time, been in the US for 2 years.

Apparently Portland has a snowstorm every 5 winters or so, and this is one of them, and with windchill, it feels like -15°C ...I can believe that.  I thought British people where meant to be weather-obsessed, but American TV takes weather reporting to a whole new level for me.