Go West!

Having survived the day from hell, we were very pleased to wake up to a new start on the beautiful Marathon shores, although it did seem as though the alarm went off in the middle of the night. We looked out of the window to see a bright, sunny day…perfect save for the gale force winds battering the palm trees and on the Weather Channel the “wind weather warning” that was in place for our area until 10am. Still, it was just a short jaunt down to Key West. So, after waiting until the end of the curfew, taking in a quick episode of Law & Order as we did our morning stretches (rude not to), we set off into a 20-30 mph side wind.

The “keys” are a whole bunch of islands connected by many many bridges. Today, within a couple of miles of our start we were onto the “it does what it says on the tin” bridge called “Seven Mile Bridge”. Or at least we would have been had we not been fooled by the pedestrian/bicycle bridge to the side of the road bridge. As we happily embarked along the pedestrian bridge, glad that we would be away from the traffic as the wind buffeted us, we squinted into the distance and saw a gap in the bridge further ahead. Thinking it was just for the ships to get through, we pressed on. Unfortunately, about 2 miles into the bridge, we saw the words that no-one enjoys reading: “Dead End”. Say no more. At least we made up a little bit for the bus ride yesterday. So, after an about-turn (the Gamines were beside themselves with joy at us finally “making a U-Turn”) and a return to the start of the bridge at a fair clip (wind behind), we were eventually on the dreaded 7-mile road bridge, wind n’ all; Kat was the most scared she had been for a while…at least since the tattooed drunk yesterday!

Anyway, it was a pleasant, warm, bright, if windy 52 mile trip down to Key West with stunning scenery, though unfortunately mostly from the bridges where it was not permitted to stop and take photos. We were glad to arrive at our hotel and chill out. Kat was particularly pleased to get the foxes off her feet. Despite her efforts at odour neutralisation (bounce sheets under the inner of each shoe), the shoes have been banished to the balcony…probably best since we have a couple of days here. Yay.

Finally, Anthony would like to say how much it cheered him up to read all the online birthday wishes and cards... thanks everyone! We would also like to wish Anthony’s parents “Happy 46^th Wedding Anniversary” for tomorrow. They’ll be interested to know that we are now closer to St. Kitts & Nevis than we are to New York. Maybe we’ll purchase some balloon tyres and cycle over to the Caribbean Islands…just a slight detour you understand, nothing may-jah!

Us x