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 one 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 was 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. 

Additional notes

Joyce to Forks, Clallam and Jefferson counties, WA.

Left at 9.45am. Arrived at 4.20pm.

Weather: Sunny and cold. No mist. Later hot. Not much wind.

Landscape: Hilly. Olympic foothills. Mountains clear of mist. Spruce forest. Crescent Lake shining in the sun, turquoise water and the Olympic range behind. Tree-lined roads. Mahogany-coloured forest. Wide rivers. Logging country.

Towns: Joyce (general store, school, bible church). Forks.

Trails: Spruce Railroad Trail. Olympic Discovery Trail. Forest tracks, the ground yellow-green and mossy.

Roads: Quiet, good surface. No cars for long stretches. The last 10 miles on the 101, with a good margin.

Breakfast: Home-made porridge (oats were provided).

Lunch spot: A picnic table where the Olympic Discovery Trail departs from the Spruce Railroad Trail. We ate the last two M&S out-of-date chocolate biscuits.

Dinner, made by Liz: Roasted veg with Mexican panela cheese. Mango, banana and yogurt. Tea and chocolate.

Plants: Rainforest with epiphytes. Ferns. Red flowering bleeding heart with its deep-cut foliage. Skunk cabbage. Trilliums. Yellow violas.

Things we saw: Ancient trees with long strands of moss hanging from them and ferns growing in the moss. Falling rocks sign and evidence of rockfalls. A road called ‘Dancing Elk Road’. A sign next to a forest, recording timber harvests in 1930, 1980 and the next one in 2030.

People we spoke to or saw: A passerby who greeted us with a salute. Walkers and day cyclists along the Spruce Railroad Trail. A couple out for a day ride on the trail. We leap-frogged two laden male cyclists (the ‘orange crew’) who didn’t seem to want to chat.

Incidents: I landed heavily, but luckily straight, after not seeing the step down from the bedroom.

Shopping: At the ‘Farm stand’ shop. Beer and courgette from the ‘Outfitters’.

Accommodation: A house in a residential road in Forks, quiet, clean and well appointed. I discovered the bike batteries charging on the floor were a perfect height for doing my daily hamstring stretches.

Today’s sound: Cockerels crowing in Joyce.

Today’s smell: Roasting vegetables (dinner).

Special moments: This is David Douglas country. Thinking if I were a plant collector, would I send this plant home, and that one (yes!). Chatting to other cyclists. The mahogany forest. Roadworks, the flaggers stopping the traffic in both directions and ushering us through like VIPs. The ‘Farm stand’ shop in Forks where I was the only customer, no English was spoken and the cashier put everything in a bag without writing anything down or ringing anything up and declared it to be $13, cheapest food shop of the entire trip by a long chalk. Not hurting myself when I missed the step down from the bedroom. In Forks I learned to dry my knickers and socks, which I washed in the shower each evening, by draping them on the outside of a recently boiled kettle – dry by morning!

Positive experience from my journal: The Spruce Railroad Trail and Crescent Lake. Using less battery today.

Appreciation from my journal: Making an amazing dinner.

Messages from Sharon, Debbie Lane, Helen, my mother and Tracy Green. Sharon: ‘Wonderful pictures and lovely writing’. Debbie: ‘Wow. This is absolutely wonderful!’ Helen: ‘We found in the USA and Canada, back in 1989, that ‘flaggers’ were often young women, maybe university age. They were often very beautiful – a stark contrast to the average British bloke working on the roadworks here (no offence meant if you’re an English road repairer!) What a beautiful cycling path and the colour of the lake – wow! Have you swum anywhere yet?’ My reply: ‘No beautiful female flaggers yet! The guys are friendly though. I would have liked to tuck them away in our luggage so they can close any trickier roads for us as we go along 🙂 No swimming yet – so far getting from a to b, getting food, writing the blog and occasionally sitting dumbstruck have taken up all our time! But we think we’ll have more time as we get into the swing of it’. Helen: ‘What language was spoken at the store? Was it just full-on American?’ My reply: ‘Well I’m not sure but it may have been Spanish. A lot of signs are in English and Spanish here and he understood when I tentatively asked for cerveza (answer was no)’. Tracy: ‘I honestly love following your blog, insightful, enrapturing and completely inspiring’.

Mementos: Calma 1 LLC receipt, Forks. Forks Outfitters receipt, Forks.