Our day began watching a red haired man in a ultilikilt building raised garden beds next door. Dylan had a surprise bunch planned for us on route to picking up our hire bikes and we set off under our familiar cloak of drizzle. I was skeptical when we arrived at Tasty N sons with a meaty menu and a 40 minute wait, but sometimes the world has a plan, or maybe we were just lucky.The restaurant is located in a bunch of shops with an undercover corridor, smart thinking in rainy Portland. We looked at bike wheels being made, bunches of flowers and pretty homewares until it was time to eat. All the diners are packed in tight and our table was only just an inch independent from our neighbours’. I ordered French Toast and I have to say it was the best I’ve ever eaten, all smothered in berries and cream. When my root beer float arrived (that’s a spider to my Aussie readers) our dining neighbours, Sally & Cliff, were intrigued and we got to chatting. We kept having those “oh” moments that roll one on top of another where you suddenly realise you are kindred spirits. Out of the blue Cliff asked if Dylan liked fishing and then it was on, he took Wednesdays off work to fish near the coast, would we like to come? The generosity of strangers when you travel can be mind blowing. The fishing day would not come soon enough to these city weary travellers, who were already feeling the effects of too much delicious food and not enough hiking in the wilderness.

We hired bikes, and like a newborn calf I tottered around the city, more cakes, more vintage and local designers, then we turned our wheels back towards home and the otherside of the river. We stopped in at Velocult a bike shop come bar and were intrigued to discover they were preparing for some sort of Carnivale Brazilian dance. Whilst Dylan enjoyed a skateboard of boutique beers (I’m not being poetic) we watched them fling coloured streamers through the rafters and a huge Brazilian band set up. They played and punters slowly trickled in coughing up a $20 entry fee that Dylan and I had escaped. We ate pizza and tacos from street vendors (no one kicked us out so I guess it was okay) and played guess which bike slung in the rafters is worth a lot of money (oh don’t tell me you don’t know that game). Darkness fell and fairylights sparkled above dancing shadows.