Day 4: Dosewallips to Elma - 70 miles

Long ride today on pretty easy terrain, wasn't too much to see on the way until I got to my destination. Most of the towns I went through were old Indian towns which would typically have 1 general store and around 5 fireworks stands. There were a crazy amount of mean looking biker hangs around as well. Elma is a town in the shadow of an old nuclear power plant, the 2 cooling towers overlooking the town look pretty ominous. I was staying in a hostel that was recommended by my book, which was on the edge of town next to a NASCAR type really that had just started in a big stadium. The hostel was run by a really nice couple who cycle toured on a tandem when they were younger. I was the only guest there and it felt more like I was just starting in someone's house as you can just walk into the sitting room etc. Jay drove me into town to pick up food for the night and then took me out on his 18 hole disc golf course. It was really good fun, although I couldn't help shake the feeling I was in an episode of Louis Theroux's weird weekends as he was telling me how serious people in the neighborhood took the game and the merits of different discs.

Day 3: Fort Casey to Dosewallips - 39 miles

Had to get a ferry first thing this morning to a small historic town called Port Townsend. Switched on the radio first thing in the morning to be told that the next sailing was canceled and it was looking like a 2 hour wait. Turned out to be wrong info but as the ferry was just a 30 second walk from my campsite it was all good. Chatted to a guy on the ferry who was doing the east and west coasts, we were going different ways from the ferry however so said goodbye, we may meet up again on the coast. It was a fairly boring day so I didn't take many photos, and was feeling pretty burnt out when I reached the bottom of mount Walker, the first proper climb of the trip. Had a big meal and lots of water and a while later took on the climb, finding it much easier than expected. For some reason the much smaller rolling hills seemed to be doing me more damage. The descent for 4 miles was pretty fun but a little scary in parts, with loads of snakes littering the shoulder, mostly squished. It's really the middle of nowhere now, with any town marked on the map usually having no more than a petrol station with a shop. Ended up camping with another cyclist who's path I crossed several times during the day as once of us would be taking a break, I'm expecting this to become more common one I get to the coast. Still looking for alcohol to use with my stove and an American Sim card but it looks like the wait could go on another day or 2 before getting back to civilization. Still debating in my head whether to do another 40 mile day tomorrow or push on and do 70, as according to my guide there's not much to see. Will have to see how much the legs allow.

Day 2: Larrabee state park to Fort Casey state park - 58 miles

First thing I did today was change my odometer from kilometers to miles to make it easier to gauge how long it would take to reach destinations in the states. It was a little depressing at first seeing how slow the miles tick by in comparison to km. Out of the park and straight back onto chuckanut drive with rolling hills on the side of the mountain with some really nice views of the ocean. Loads of road cyclists seem to train on this road with some of them offering words of encouragement and the miles flew by.

After this I turned west towards Fidalgo island through some farmland and then climbed up to deception pass with the amazing bridge and views from the top. I walked my bike across the path on the bridge with turned out to be quite narrow and it took a while to negotiate a way out when pedestrians came towards me from both sides. Them down past a US navy base with fighter jets flying low overhead, the noise was seriously deafening and it's not surprising that the residents are asking for tests to be done to see how it is affecting their health. With scorching hot sunny weather for the entire day it was surprising when the thickest fog I've ever experienced engulfed everything a few miles from my destination, from clear blue skies to not a trace of the sun in the sky in the space of 10 mins. That made for a cold and damp night but with no raccoons by the sea here I slept like a baby.

Day 1: Vancouver to Larrabee state park - 111km

Left Vancouver feeling pretty excited, taking the same route that I usually use for my commute for the first 15km which was a bit strange. Once I crossed over to north Delta I got a little lost and ended up on a horrible potholed off-road trail which really tested my bike. After a bit of highway riding I got to the border. They gave me a pretty tough time, basically asking me to prove right now that I was going to be leaving the country afterwards, which without a flight booked I couldn't do. They eventually let me through, and I think they were probably always going to let me through but wanted to make sure they got the message through ('even if you don't get caught after 90 days you will be searched for and arrested', or something along those lines.

I was pretty annoyed leaving and decided once I saw that the farmland scenery was quite boring that I was going to push past my original destination and go to the next state park on the map. Went through Ferndale and Bellingham, really nice towns, and then up Chuckanut drive to Larrabee state park. At the campsite there were warnings everywhere about raccoons stealing food, apparently it's a huge problem. They advice they give is to keep food in your car which isn't a great help to cyclists. So when going to bed I packed all my food in my tent bag and put the zips under a leg of the park bench next to me. That didn't stop them from trying and I was up half the night shooing them away, even throwing stones didn't deter them. But they didn't get any food so I'm putting that down as a win for me.

Sooke Trip - Aug 31st-Sep 2nd

Last trip before I leave down the coast and myself and Kathy took a trip to Sooke on Vancouver Island. Traveled the entirety of the Galloping Goose trail, built over an old train track. The trip passed mostly without incident but with a pretty good animal sighting count including: a black bear, 2 snakes, lizard, lots of eagles, deer and herons.

                         

Bike ready to go again

People swimming in the Sooke potholes

Chilling at Sooke museum

Black bear off the side of the road

I make big fire

Missed this while passing it in the dark on the first day, probably a good thing we weren't aware

They're big into conspiracies on the island

Lizard on the Galloping Goose

Water refilling station on the trail

Sooke boardwalk

Picked up some stuff from home at the UK import shop

They've kept the old train trestles on the trail

                                   

Ferry doors opening back in Tsawwassen

Stanley Park, Vancouver Airport & Iona Jetty (78km) - August 5th

Went for a long cycle around Vancouver today as it had been a while since I had put in any serious training. It was a gorgeous day for a cycle, unfortunately I wasn't the only one who thought this and in hindsight cycling around Stanley Park, the most popular bike ride in the city wasn't the best idea on a bank holiday Monday. However the views were great as usual I happily put up with the slow pace. Once I had made it around the entire downtown section of the seawall I went directly south to Richmond and Vancouver airport. Past the airport there's a really cool public park in a really unlikely area, which has a nice mix of some spectacular scenery and wildlife with a background noise of planes taking off and landing in close proximity. I was debating whether to cycle out to the end of the Iona jetty, the long spit of land on the map above as the trail was very rocky and was an 8km round trip which wasn't the most pleasant. However I was rewarded at the end of the jetty with views of two whales coming up for air (no idea what species, they only emerged briefly), several seals poking their heads out of the water (I was told there was a den near by so it was common to see several of them) and lots of bald eagles. Unfortunately my phone camera couldn't get good quality shots of any of them, I really need to invest in something with good zoom. 

Separated bike paths downtown

A Disney cruise ship docked at Canada Place 

A freight tanker passing under the Lion's Gate bridge, they pass at a serious speed even this close to land

Busy beaches around Stanley Park

Cool bike path attached to underneath the Skytrain bridge between Vancouver and Richmond, it would be great to see these become more common

Iona Beach, out past Vancouver airport

The jetty is constructed around a massive sewerage pipe, great idea to make something so picturesque out of what would have been an eyesore

 End of the jetty

You can just about make out Mound Baker in Washington here to the left of the airport if you click on the photo. Still completely covered in snow

Stuck around to watch a few planes passing directly overhead