Day 3: Anacortes - Port Townsend, 40 miles

After catching up on the blog, our day started with a cruise along the coast, past the San Juan ferry and onto the first climb of many. Day four of cycling and although none of the hills were of immense proportions the muscles were putting up resistance. Winding through yet more woodland we came up to Deception Pass State Park. As we got onto SR 20 the hard shoulder was closed, but with only one workman for a few hundred metres, we decided to feign ignorance and pedalled straight along it. The road was far too narrow and the scenery too beautiful to spend the cycle worrying about trucks flying past us.

The crazy thing here is that any vehicle coming up behind you sounds like a huge Juggernaut. I have lost track of the number of times it has in fact been a pick up.

At the end of the road works we had to lift our bikes (panniers and all) over the concrete barriers and onto the Deception Pass Bridge where we were treated to a sidewalk only just wide enough to take our loaded bikes, and which protected us from the traffic by a thin wire. The views were, however, worth the trek.

Once off SR 20 we came back into countryside with undulating hills. As soon as we had lost the noise of the traffic we were met by the booming noise of jets as we circled a U.S. Naval Reservation on Whidbey Island. They were flying so low that it felt like they were going to land on our heads - I even had a perverse urge to wave.

The route swept down along the Strait of Juan De Fuca where we enjoyed a few minutes of flat terrain, rudely interrupted by a steep shock of a hill up to Coupeville via Penn Cove. Penn Cove was surrounded by clapboard houses with creeks in their front yards, and the hills were so short and gentle that we soon started to pick up our speed. Through Coupeville we barely stopped to think - the roads were easy and we knew there were only 5 miles to Fort Casey and the Port Townsend ferry. With absolutely no prior planning we made it to the ferry with 2 minutes to spare. On we got and 30 minutes later we were off again in hunt of a visitors centre.

In the background of the photo below you can just make out the snow capped Olympic Mountain

The downtown Bishop Victorian Hotel was recommended. After getting lost (by following a mistaken address this time) we stumbled into the hotel where we were met by a lovely lady who got us set up with a room and a place to store our bikes.

Once settled we went up the road to yet another nice restaurant called Fountains Cafe where we ate locally caught fish.

Port Townsend itself features a streetscape of restored 19th-century buildings along a waterfront with views of Cascade and Olympic Mountains. For the first time since reaching America we have seen more than just ourselves walking along the street, although the men on their mowers are still prevalent.