Our start is slightly delayed by Tim's desire to make the most of the breakfast buffet at 6.30 am but we leave around 7 am on a cold and misty morning. Mark goes on ahead as Tim stops for photos and we rendezvous again before the route gets complicated. A lot of zigzagging on country roads to avoid traffic, but the expected headwind off the A tlantic doesn't materialize early. We're also expecting to see fruit growing (names like Citra, Orange Grove and Island Grove might lead the unsuspecting to believe this anyway) but it turns out the bulk of the industry moved south after disastrous frosts one year.
We meet up with a main road at one point in the morning but find it populated only by a police roadblock: we at last come face to face with the results of the drought. A brush fire obscured visibility and led to a pileup involving 3 cars and 9 trucks, they were still hauling away wreckage hours later. There's space for bikes to pass so we enjoy a lonely 3 miles before finding a gas station for breakfast (populated by drivers trying to work out a route avoiding Rt 301.
The next stretch is easy; as we've started to do of late Mark heads off first, allowing Tim to catch up on the higher geared bike before another stretch of zigzagging to follow country roads around Lake Delaney. A stop at a natural spring for (sulfurous) refreshment set us up for a nervy 13 miles on a busy stretch without shoulders before crossing the St John's River and finding a gas station in Palatka for serious rehydration. To our relief we're soon back on the country roads to avoid the direct (and busy) Rt 201 but the exertions of the last few days start to catch up with us and the ride is tough till we rejoin Rt 13 for a delightful stretch on the river that almost makes us forget the pain. We're now directly west of St Augustine and turn onto the home stretch on 214: and directly into the sea breeze. I find this one of the toughest stretches of the whole route as the miles crawl by, but at last we cross I-95 and start to pass the outskirts of town. Now we know we're nearly there and riding seems much easier as we quickly pass into the historic heart of town and arrive at THE END OF THE RIDE.
Too tired for wild celebrations, we relax in a small park feeling mainly a huge sense of relief, and as I'm sure is common a small amount of regret that the adventure is over. Of course we still have to continue to Ocala but that'll be another day. Being well prepared we've not booked accommodation but call the nearby KOA campsite to find that they have plenty of space a few miles out of town, but close at 8pm. We race the 4 miles and get set up by dark, find an Italian restaurant close by and have a quiet night, despite Tim buying a bottle of wine we are both too done in to celebrate.
The ride is over, but find out about the journey home here.
