Day 29 - Ocean City, Maryland

An absolutely gorgeous day today - sunshine all day, though it's been a little windy (however, not the 40-50 mph gusts that were predicted). I'm amazed to find that once you cross the Mason-Dixon line, the temperature is 10 deg F warmer almost immediately!

Started out going east (and a bit south), through Frederick, and then onto the I-270 towards Washington DC; the Capital Beltway seems to work much better than London's M25! The closer I got to the coast, the more agricultural the landscape became, although there are still many mature trees; here they are still mostly green, though lots of leaves are now falling.

Eventually made my way past Annapolis, with its famous State House (not visible from the road, however) to the stunning Chesapeake Bay Bridge; and made a little side trip down to the tip of historic Kent Island. Continued east into Delaware (first state to ratify the Constitution) to the coast at Rehoboth Beach - it seemed to take forever to get to see the ocean (reminding me of childhood trips to the seaside, when the last few miles seemed to be the longest) - Rehoboth reminded me rather of Skegness - a long approach full of seaside tat (what in the the UK are referred to as 'grockle shops'), culminating in an enormously long sandy beach with a cold grey-green sea. I then turned south, travelling down the sand strip through Bethany Beach (much nicer than Rehoboth) to Ocean City, where I am staying at the Comfort Inn right on the boardwalk. Super big room with couch and fully-equipped kitchen (not that I'm using it!), all for $50.

Went for a long walk down the boardwalk, watching the kiteflyers capitalising on the wind, but at this time of year most of the stores, restaurants and bars are closed. However, there's a hot rod convention in town, so there were lots of interesting people- and car-watching opportunities!