Day 2a: San Juan Island, 35 miles

As you can see our mileage has greatly decreased since day one. In an attempt to not fly through every area we came to, we took a ferry over to San Juan Island. The sun was shining and the one hour ferry journey past various other islands including Lopez and Orcas was a welcomed moment of relaxation. The islands were beautiful, and we were treated to a couple of dolphin jumping along side us. As ever a couple of people got chatting to us about our trip and a fellow cyclist checked we knew where we were going... Of course we knew, we had the lonely planets guide for this side trip. Of course this meant yet again we got lost.

The trip took us out of Friday Harbor, along undulating hills to Roche Harbor (and old lime kiln area). We stopped for a cup of tea - an Irishman can go no longer than a couple of hours before replenishing - giving Tim time to look at boats and their surroundings..

Just as we were leaving a guy approached us asking what we were up to and how we were finding our bikes. It transpired he had taken two and a half years to cycle from Alaska to Argentina, broken by three months of kayaking in the middle! It is funny when you realise how many people are out there doing crazy challenges. He had largely done the trip alone but rightfully said 'the bike is an ambassador' - everyone waves at you as you go by and people cycle across intersections to see what we are up to.

Rest over we cycled back up on to the circuitous route we were following and made it up some tough enough hills. One was rewarded by sea views, had we of course not got lost and ventured into the middle of the island. Being lost on a bike in America is difficult one as you see so few people outside of a car. In a moment of indecision we took a right turn in the direction we thought we wanted to go and came across a lady on a bike who gave us concise directions down to the last hill incline and length. For the next few hours we went up and down, past houses with lakes in their front yards, alpacas and sea scapes.

Once back in Friday Harbor we settled down in a cafe where a guy was playing his guitar. A couple of coffees down we retraced our steps onto the ferry and back into Anacortes where we had dinner in a great restaurant called Adrift.