Day 5 Harrisburg, PA to Chambersburg, PA

61 miles

No amount of research or training could have prepared me for what was about to come. Planning my route I knew I had no trials and no back country roads. All day I was on busy roads all the way till Hagerstown. I knew though that once I reached this point I would have over 300 miles of scenic bike trails all the way till Pittsburgh, so I believed it to be worthwhile. I left the hotel later than planned but I felt Hagerstown was within easy reach as it was only on the roads. The morning flew by and after lunch I was continually stopping for breaks and consuming more water then I could carry, at one point in the afternoon I was sitting under a tree drinking what felt like boiling water, not what I needed when I wanted to cool down. It was only when I got to the supermarket to get a chilled water that I realised what I had been cycling in, my phone clocked the temperature at 104 degrees, and the humidity was excruciating to go with it.

After a bite at Big Joe’s restaurant, I started to think about all the quirky things I had noticed so far about America and Pennsylvania. I was beginning to see that American culture was not too dissimilar to that of the UK although our cars don’t beep their horns after we lock them and why does the cycling man on the road have an overly large helmet? America too has its own eccentricities and oddities.

For some reason I decided to put myself up in a local Motel, I was meant to camp but I didn’t quite make it to my final destination. However, this turned out to be almost a life-saving decision as during the night was one of the worst storms that Pennsylvania, Washington and Virginia have seen for decades, some people were saying centuries but I thought that might be pushing it. I sure I am going to see the full devastation tomorrow along the trail.