Day Twenty-One - Deceptive Hills.

I find myself writing this from Harrodsburg, roughly 45 miles from Berea, though my total for the day is closer to 55.

I got out of by room at about 9:00 this morning, and went to have breakfast. Somehow, out of all of the restaurants that were around where I was staying, only one was open before 10am, which happened to be a proper restaurant/diner rather than fast food. I didn't have much choice but to go here, so I didn't actually get on the road until about 10:15.

I planned to stay in a town called Springfield, which is between 60-70 miles from Berea. However, I missed a left turn after 18 miles that I was meant to take, and took the following left. I was blissfully unaware that I was going the wrong way, until a guy on a tractor coming the opposite direction stopped me. He told me in typical country drawl how he'd stopped three cyclists that week going down the same road. In my defense, my cycle computer distance said that that was the right turning, I've come to realise that the mileages on my maps aren't always 100% right. Anyway, I had to go backwards about 5 miles until I got to the 'black top', then take a right.. Apparently black top refers to the road surface, which to me are all black.. I eventually found the turning, with the signpost bent flat to the floor. I later learnt there had been a tornado, which may explain why everyone was having their roof tiled today.

Dogs weren't too much of a problem today, I went the first 25 miles without hearing so much as a bark. I had a couple of encounters later on, but nothing too bad. The biggest challege I faced today were the hills. They aren't the long, drawn out mountains I've been going over recently, they are short, steep ups. They don't last for very long, but there are lots and lots of them, one after the other. You know the Windows default wallpaper with the hills? it's very similar to that.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Bardstown I think, which will be of similar distance to today (or what today would have been had I not gone wrong. I realise now that it's not flat enough yet to make up any more of the time I lost in waiting for my bike, I think I'll leave that until I reach proper flats.