by Philip
Day’s mileage : 49
Running total : 261
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we did 47.5 miles, into a stiff headwind, with several challenges caused by road closures which increased the amount of climbing we did, and I used 86% of my battery. Today, we did 49 miles, with a much more benign wind (strength and direction), no diversions, and I used 45%! While our bikes have huge batteries and range anxiety is less prevalent, I have been aware that tomorrow is a 68 mile day so will need to eke out the motorised assistance.
Today has been stunning. We started reasonably early, leaving our lovely, very compact cottage, cycling through Joyce past smallholdings with goats climbing purpose-built obstacles, accompanied by loud cockerels. We then climbed for a while up a quiet road for a couple of miles before joining the Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) again, this section known as the Spruce Railroad Trail. The railroad was built during WW1 to transport timber (unsurprisingly, spruce!) for use in the war, but was only completed in 1919. Now, it’s a delightful leisure trail through dense spruce forests, the trees ramrod straight and immensely tall, with gorgeous ferns, trillium flowers and violas. Rounding one corner we suddenly found lake Crescent – very deep, beautifully clear and a turquoise blue.
One lovely thing about a railroad trail is that the gradients are gentle, interspersed with occasional more aggressive hills to join up different sections. The trail was SO peaceful, framed with trees, many with decades-old moss growing on them, and with ferns then growing in the moss. The sun was out, and the light magical through the trees.
We had an early lunch at a picnic table where we had a chat with another couple of cyclists out for a day’s ride, and were then passed by two men loaded up much like us, although somewhat taciturn so although we leap-frogged them a couple of times later, we didn’t find out what their route is.
After lunch we continued on the trail which widened out with paths coated with green from the trees – it was really magical, peaceful, calming and mesmerising.
We were on the trail for 19 miles, followed by another 15 on very quiet roads with perhaps 1 car every half hour – and again the gradients were gentle which meant I could cycle without using the motor for a lot of the day.
After 35 miles we encountered highway 101 which will become a familiar friend over the coming weeks, and cycled 11 miles along the shoulder towards Forks, our destination for the night. En route, we encountered roadworks, with traffic controlled by “flaggers” with stop/go signs. These men stopped traffic in both directions and waved us on through as if we were royalty! We also passed a sign next to a forest, stating that timber was first harvested there in 1930, a second harvest in 1980, and the next one due in 2030. The area is highly geared toward logging, and we saw several huge trucks with vast logs being transported on the highway.
Arriving in Forks we tried to buy food for dinner, going to a fascinating store where no English was spoken – Liz did the shopping and had her basket emptied into a bag and being told “$13” with no breakdown. It did make for a delicious roasted veg with cheese though!
Now for an early night before our long ride tomorrow … one of the highest planned mileages of our trip.
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