Woken to rain we left Rockport after meaning a puncture on my rear wheel, which delayed us a little.

We headed out of Rockport buying some bread at the general store. Stopping at the Northern Cascades Visitors Centre in Newhalem to eat out lunch. The weather was a bit changeable sometimes good sometimes bad. It got a lot better after our lunch stop. We cycled on and found a steam train that had been used help move stuff for the building a hydroelectric power-station.

After cycling on a little way we heard somebody calling us it was our hosts for our stay in Lake Stevens. They had very kindly come on a drive out and brought us some lunch. We eat some there and then and took some with us. We said our goodbyes and head off.

The climb was long and hard and raining and there was also some down as we were going up which is always depressing. We made it to Rainy Pass 4855 feet 1480 meters. This was a little rest area with quite a bit of snow on the ground. We stopped cycling at about 8pm this is the latest ever. We cooked dinner in the shelter of the toilet, that later became Cliff bedroom. I opted to sleep in my tent.

It was pretty cold at the top of the mountain but I put all my clothes on and it was warm enough.

I slept well I think this mainly due to how tired I was other than the comfort of our surroundings.

TODAY

Coffee was good we cycled down a bit and then up to Washington Pass 5477 feet 1669 meters. We stopped to look at the view it was closed for some construction work but we carefully managed to see the view.

The downhill was good and long, we put more clothes on to keep warm from the wind chill. We arrived in Mazama and had a look around a good but pricey general store. Carrying on to Winthrop which looked like disneyland but I think it was just an old town, and could have done with a roundabout at the big junction. There were a lot of motorbikes in town due to the Tumbleweed Run Motorcycle Ralley.

We carried on Twisp where we are staying with a warmshowers person. The house is a lovely cottage a bit away from the town. We are going to head into the town for some food, beer and wifi.

We are now at the Twisp Pub enjoying some wifi about to eat some food and drink some beer. The pub is pretty nice so far well the water we have got is good.

So far the landscape in america is very big big mountains big rivers, big skys. It some places it looks unreal like a film set almost. The mountains were pretty spectacular and the downhill

In America they make the beer cold. The beer pictured is a Oatmeal Stout, Rolled oats add richness to this smooth dark ale.