Rest day, kinda: Walla Walla (Washington) to Umatilla (Oregon)

Ok ok ok what did we do today, hmm lemmethink back, oh yeah.

We only had 60 miles or so to do today, bizarrely this now counts as a bit of a holiday. We had a late start, getting up just before 11am, a quick breakfast in the gas station across the road, then cruising out through town. The day is sunny and warm, it’s gently downhill most of the way, there’s a bit of a tailwind, we only have a little way to go and there’s no rush.

We cruise, that’s what we do, tick follows tick follows tock, each one a gentle push on the pedals, so gentle that you can barely feel it. Bert’s slow-ride training is coming along well and he manages to ‘pootle’ along for several miles without sprinting.

We enter the Washington Scablands, the result of a 2000 feet deep glacial dam bursting back in the ice age 20,000 years ago, resulting in a flood 1000 feet high moving with the force of a fire hose, scouring the landscape from Missoula (several hundred mile east of here) all the way to the ocean. We ride over sand ripples a hundred feet high, the landscape is deeply eroded, bedrock showing. It is truly awesome.


Eventually we reach the Columbia River Gorge, 250 feet high and deeply eroded by the flood which filled it to the brim, overtopping in some places. The gorge is awesome and I get a crick in my neck looking up at the towering cliffs and caves made from scoured-out basalt columns.

I’ve wanted to see this place ever since I heard about it but hadn’t planned it in, so was chuffed yesterday when I realized we’d be riding through it. 20,000 years is kinda recent geologically, and there’s a good chance some genuine humans were around to see it.

A few miles along the river and we cross into Oregon. Unusually, photo-slut Bert ("Here I am! Where do you want me? Love me! Love me!") doesn't want his picture taken so you'll have to make do with just me and use your imagination.


We reached Umatilla and discovered it’s a run down tiny little place with abandoned buildings on the main street. Scoff and red wine is being followed up by some quality american TV which bert couldn’t wait to get back to. Welcome to the mainstream bertie.

It’s less than 300 miles to the pacific now, which is about 3 or 4 days ride. The Columbia River Gorge is renowned for fierce headwinds so each day will probably be a bit of a battle, but it’s so close to the end I think we can grit our teeth and push on.

We have ridden past a couple of dead rattlesnakes lately and today bert has been practising the action of scooping them up and lobbing them back at me as we ride, this gives me the fear but good.

So the trip is nearly over, although it only feels like a couple days ago that bert got here, even though that was 1000 miles ago!