Again we were on the road by 9:00, but today we left with a nice breakfast. This time though, instead of 101, we had highway 55 west. Same traffic, just a different name; but in all fairness, the folks in North Carolina were great to ride with. They gave us plenty of room and never crowded us so it wasn�t too bad. This made the big item on our �to do� list today look pretty enjoyable.
Our big goal today was to make the ferry at Auroa over the Pamlico River by 12:50. The next ferry would not leave again until 2:30 and we didn�t want to hang around waiting for it. The ferry crossing was only 30 miles away so we felt pretty confident. Heck, we felt down right cocky, but that was before we got lost in Bayboro and missed our turn. We finally got turned back around and we arrived in Auroa by 11:45. We were still 7 miles from the ferry station but decided to stop at Maw�s Pizza and order a couple of sub sandwiches. By 12:00 we were still waiting for our food. By 10 after twelve I told them we had to leave to catch the ferry. With a really irritable look to go with it they finally gave us our food and we started our race for the ferry.
By now the wind was up and we took off into a heavy headwind. We rode as fast as we could and just pulled up in time to roll onto the ferry. Exhausted we climbed the stairs to lounge and ate our subs. They were excellent. It could have been the ride, or the late lunch hour, but as slow as Maw was, her sub sandwiches were pretty good.
After a forty minute ferry crossing we were on our way to historical Bath. Along the way we decided to make a detour to visit Bayview along the Pamlico River. It was worth the extra miles to see the old homes along the river and the little fishing village, and even they had their Edward Teach Black Beard historical marker posted by the road for all to view. Soon we turned left and we were back on the road to Bath.
As we crossed the bridge into town we saw the sign that told why it was called Historical Bath. Bath is the oldest town in North Carolina. Bath also claims Black Beard as a favorite son and they say he even lived there a while. As we pedaled past the Bath High School, home of the �Fighting Pirates�, we came into the town proper. It seems that not much has been added since the town was formed. It consisted of a visitor�s center, our bed & breakfast for the night, The Inn on Bath Creek, and one antique store. There were a few private homes in town and also a small marina and a little restaurant as we crossed the river, but that was pretty much it for Bath. I guess that�s why ole Black Beard left; sort of dull. They did have a very nice waterfront park and we enjoyed sitting on the benches and relaxing after supper before heading to our room.
We ate blueberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast and started out by 9:00 or so. That seems to be our standard starting time, but everything else was going to change today. Our original plan was to stay in Plymouth tonight and bike into Edenton on Monday, but the weather station was calling for heavy rains Monday so we decided to bike on to Edenton today. That was change one. The other was the wind. It had been blowing from the NW at 5-10 the past few days. Today it was from the NE and blowing 15-25! Of course we were biking NE. Doesn�t it always work that way? Like I say; sometimes you�re the statue, some times you�re the pigeon. It looked like we would be the statue today.
We rolled into Plymouth around lunch time. We decided to eat and take a break before heading on to Edenton. I think we were just putting off the dreaded 32 bridge. We had heard so much about it I was even a little apprehensive. The biggest problem was the length. It was about 4 miles across the Albemarle Sound and that meant at least 20 minutes for us no matter how bad it was. It also had a low guard rail and the cross winds were known to be pretty bad in the afternoons.
Susan pulled over to physic herself up for the crossing. I, on the other hand, was actually relieved. The shoulder was wider than I had expected, and the traffic was almost nonexistent. The big sign that said,� Bicyclers beware of dangerous cross winds and low guardrails� was a little disconcerting but the ride across turned out not be as bad as was expected. The best part about crossing was we soon turned left and that headwind we had fought was now a tailwind that pushed us the last seven miles into town. I will say it was a great relief to see the Hampton Inn at the end of the day. It was as tough a 65 miles as I have ridden in a while and just as we pulled under the portico it started to rain. I was glad we were here.
