Weather forecast was for light rain all day. So, with bags carefully packed, ensuring all wet-weather gear would be accessible as soon as the first “Sky Tear” fell upon our anxious brows, we set off. Full of hope that the meteorological forecast was incorrect, we came upon the pier at Kure Beach and admired the picture-perfect scene and soon erased melancholy thoughts of rain from our minds. The sunshine on this forecast rainy day held out as we rode to the ferry at Fort Fisher to cross the river to Southport. If you didn’t like Hitchcock’s “Birds” don’t look at the photos.
Back on terra firma, we cycled like Gods and met yet more very interesting people. One guy we met whilst eating our bagels outside a service station. He opened the side doors to his Dodge van and kindly presented Kat with an opportunity to save money. Rather than wasting our cash on Bed & Breakfasts, he suggested we stay with him, as he lived alone in a house just around the corner... we cycled on! Only to be passed 2 miles down the road by him and his buddies hanging out of the van windows screaming encouragement.
Making good progress at 15mph, we neared Sunset Beach. Of course not the Sunset Beach Kat and Anthony frequented in the Hamptons, but the historic Sunset Beach of North Carolina, which is actually an Island that can only be reached by a one-lane Pontoon bridge aka “Uppy Down” bridge. This bridge is unique in that the middle section floats on water. So at high tide you traverse in a convex manner and at low tide a concave…it’s a truism, honest!
Crossing the bridge, we soon arrived at The Sunset Inn and met the owner Dave and his assistant Kelly. Both very lovely people, they upgraded us to a fantastic room with a view, a balcony, a bottle of chardonnay and a Jacuzzi (photos not suitable for the public domain). Before we sampled the delights of our room, Kelly suggested we walk 5 minutes to the beach and swim in the Ocean…OMG, fine sandy beach, crashing body board waves, hot sun and the Atlantic Ocean all to ourselves. Problem is, when you see everyone on the beach and no one in the water, you can’t get that bloody Soundtrack out of your head… you know that one from JAWS. Fortunately, we did spot one guy swimming; he was from Alaska! Needless to say the water was freezing but he thought it was like the Caribbean Sea: Alaskans and English, much in common (well, not all Alaskans, but we won’t give HER any air time on our blog).
We came, we saw, we swam…
Us x
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