Astoria to Coos Bay

Yachats

I got off the bus in Astoria late in the afternoon. The place seemed a bit run down. The transit centre was manned by a very helpful person who gave me advice on accommodation and catching buses further south down the coast.

I checked in to a motel about half kilometer from the motel. I then headed out looking for a place to eat. There was hardly anyone around. I asked a jogger if there were any restaurants nearby. She told me that there was a brewery pub a short walk away.

Brewery

The place is called the Buoy Brewery and it turned out to be really good. The bar looked out over the bay. It was a very spectacular view.

I ordered baked fish. Over the meal, I got into conversation with another customer. He told me that he was travelling in a RV. He also told me that he had been to Canberra on numerous occasions working for the United States government. I asked him what he did for the government. He told me that he “couldn’t tell me”. This was turning into a similar conversation to that I had had in Santa Monica.

We kept talking about travelling and retirement. He told me that he had retired at 55 and that his wife did not like to travel. They have an agreement whereby he can travel as much as he likes and she stays at home.

We agreed on one thing: it is better to travel as soon as you can. It will only get more difficult as you get older.

The bloke also told me that he is thinking of buying a sea going trawler and sailing it to Australia and New Zealand.

Series of Buses to Newport

I woke up early the next morning and went to the transit centre where I caught the first of a series of buses down the coast to Newport.

There were parts of the trip where it would have been good to ride, however on balance this was a good part of the trip to take by bus.

It was late in the afternoon when I arrived in Newport. I checked into a very ordinary motel run by an Indian bloke who was a bit of a Basil Faulty.

After settling in I walked towards the beach front to look for a place to eat. The beach was very windswept.

Irish Pub

I found a quiet a nice Irish Pub back from Nye Beach. They had a very limited menu including Guinness beef pie. That turned out to be very tasty.

Heading to Yachats

In the morning, I headed out to look for a place to have breakfast. I have found finding places to get a decent breakfast quite difficult in the US. Most places only serve cooked breakfast meals. Rarely can you find places that serve muesli and fresh fruit. I settled on a plate of hot oats and blueberries.

Bike Shop

After leaving the motel, I stopped off at a bike shop to pump up my tyres. The blokes in a bike shop told me that the weather was about to turn nasty. This included rain and strong wind from South. This was really annoying to hear as I had expected that the prevailing winds would be from North.

After leaving the bike shop I rode along the beach to small park which has a very spectacular view of a bridge which not dissimilar to Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The ride along the 101 was quite good. There was quite a lot of traffic including large trucks, however the verge on the road is wide so it is not too dangerous.

I stopped in a small town called Waldport There was a small drive by coffee shop that served a very good cappuccino. It is not easy to get good coffee is many places in the US.

Next to the coffee shop there was a bike shop. As it turned out the bike shop was a charity run by a group of volunteers. I got into a conversation with the blokes in the bike shop. They told me that they received the bikes by donation and repair them where possible, and sell them.

They were very interested in my travels, particularly those in Europe. They like many people I speak to, they lamented about the difficulty of riding bicycles in the U.S. They also warned me about the change in weather that was expected.

Yachats

It was a relatively short ride to the next town which is a great little place called Yachats.

I found a really nice little motel and checked in. The owners, a middle aged couple, were very friendly and told me that they had only recently bought the place. Previously, they had worked with very large hotels in Las Vegas and was a bit of a change to go from the hotel that could handle over 7000 guests to one that only had 12 rooms.

The Internet was really good so I took the opportunity to make a couple of Skype calls.

After a quick walk around the town, I settled into the local craft Brewery for couple of pints of IPA. It was an interesting IPA, very light and bubbly.

The owner of the motel had recommended a fish restaurant as a place for a meal. It turned out to be a very good recommendation.

That night, as predicted, the weather changed dramatically as a storm clouds and rain came in from the sea.

Leaving Yachats

It was still raining heavily as I left the town in the morning. This part of the coast from Yachats to Florence is one of the most spectacular parts of the Oregon coast.

As I rode along the weather changed almost by the minute. It would be pouring with rain one minute and then it would clear and the sun would shine.

Fortunately, the sun was out at some of the spectacular points along the road. Check out the Flickr photographs.

Florence

After leaving the spectacular section, there is a very boring bit of the road leading into the town of Florence. It was late in the afternoon when I arrived in Florence. I had thought that I may be able to catch a bus from Florence further south of 5.20 p.m. in the afternoon. The bus was leaving from the City Hall.

I used Google maps and find City Hall. It wasn’t obvious which building was the City Hall. I asked a bloke walking in the street, “can point me to City Hall”?. He responded, “you want a sink hole”? I ended up having to spell CITY HALL before he understood what I was saying.

As it turned out no bus arrived and I headed across the road to book into motel. The receptionist in motel told me that the bus would not stop unless you have made a prior booking. As we spoke the rain started fall really heavily and turned into hail.

I have to say that Florence Oregon is a dismal place, however, I was lucky to have stopped only a short walk from the ‘old town’, which contains some nice restaurants and bars. I ended up having quite a nice pasta meal in an Italian restaurant, followed by a couple of pints of pale ale in a bar.

Heading to Winchester

It was raining when I left Florence. It was also fairly cold and the riding wasn’t much fun at all.

It was mid-afternoon when I arrived in Winchester Bay. I checked Google for advice on accommodation and decided book into the Salmon Landing Motel. It turned out to be really good.

Given that the buses only operate Monday to Friday, I decided to stay in Winchester Bay until Sunday morning before riding onto Coos Bay, where I planned to catch a bus heading towards Orford. I had been told that part of the 101 is not very interesting.

Into Coos Bay

I left Winchester Bay around midday. As I rode south the weather started to clear. The road run parallel to the very large sand dunes next to the beach. This area is very popular for all terrain vehicle (ATV) fanatics.

There is a rail line running of along the coast. Unfortunately it is only used to carry timber. It would be great for passengers.

I arrived in Coos Bay around 3.00 p.m. and booked into the Motel 6. It was basic but very clean. I took the short walk into the main part of town and found a brewery which served good beer and food.

Flickr Links

Busing it to Newport

https://flic.kr/s/aHskWeZWuc

To Yachats

https://flic.kr/s/aHskZy96pc

Yachats

https://flic.kr/s/aHskZsR9Dy

Winchester Bay

https://flic.kr/s/aHskWqvMFv

Coos Bay

https://flic.kr/s/aHskZFbd2f

Garmin Links