April 27, 2015
Beaufort to Ocracoke
We woke to sunshine and blue skies. Finally!
But no breakfast! Well, the place we wanted to go to was closed, so we had to settle for the hotel's "continental" breakfast (i.e., toasted bagel and banana muffins). That is what fueled us today. Sad.
We might have explored further (Beaufort Cafe was the only other option), but Happy wanted to have his bike checked out. His chain was starting to slip. Memories of Vero Beach came to mind (when I had my entire drive chain replaced). So off we went to Beaufort Bicycles.
Long story short, Happy got a new cassette and chain for half the price I paid. Good deal. And the test drive showed everything working fine. Thanks, Beaufort Bike Guy.
But we needed to make the Cedar Island Ferry, and there were only three runs to Ocracoke today: 7:00 AM, 10:30 AM, and 4:00 PM. It was already 11:15 when we got to the bike shop, and we were there for an hour, so I felt pressed for time. It was a beautiful day, but we still had strong winds, now out of the west and north. Our travels today would be mostly north and east, so I knew we would have significant headwinds along the way. OK, some likely tailwinds, too, but why chance it? This was supposed to be an easy day leading to the islands, followed by a rest day lol!
So we took off on NC-70 and followed it to NC-12. There's an alternate route that likely has less traffic, but I was good with the main roads, and the distance was the same. Ultimately, both end up on NC-12 anyway.
The ride was pretty and got prettier the further east we went. And there were several river crossings that were spectacular.
After that last crossing, it got really brutal with a strong headwind and long, exposed headways. But it was pretty.
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Finally, this delightful sign.
And finally, the ferry.
I arrived about 2:45. I was that anxious. Happy came in shortly thereafter. We hung out in the ticket office/visitors center for a while and finally loaded the ferry. It was a full ferry (from a vehicle perspective). We were loaded last and squeezed our bikes up against the rail.
After a 2-1/2 hour ferry ride, we arrived in Ocracoke. It's a slow ferry, moving at about 12 mph. Slower as it gets closer to Ocracoke, as it's a complicated approach to the harbor in shallow waters. Total distance is about 26 miles.
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,510 miles (2,430 km)
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