After our initial antics in Bremerton a few days ago, we decided to have a lie in and get a ferry at 10:15, ensuring we were fully rested before tackling Bremerton again. The ferry journey was a nice hour of further relaxation, then came the hard work. Having got onto the correct road, within 5 minutes we were lost. Every time we got to a junction the book (or so we thought) told us to take an impossible direction, unless of course we fancied cycling into a naval yard (was this another of Tim's plans..?). After dithering for a few minutes we figured we may as well just go along route 304 and onto route 3, joining the map a few miles away. This was a brilliant plan - we cut 5 miles off the planned trip, two steep climbs and woke ourselves up dealing with speeding trucks. By some fluke we turned off the road at the first available point and we were back on route.
Fluke achieved, we cycled 10m and bang - Tim got a flat. I guess this may be retribution for the unplanned shortening of our trip. The offender of the heinous crime, with a healthy bounty on it's head was a big tack..
A man's work is never done:
Flat fixed off we set again until the hunger pangs started. Sharing a sandwich, out of nowhere it started to rain. Tim 'Jack' (of 'I'm alright') McCaul thrust his sandwich and helmet into my hands in a rush to get his waterproof on. I on the other hand stood there getting wet ;-) Honestly.
Like speeding bullets, we seemed to beat the clouds and ride out the other side to enjoy sunshine. Happy that we were far enough ahead of the rain we turned onto route 106 (off the old belfair highway) until we hit one of our biggest climbs so far, up Trails road. In reality it wasn't too bad - just the toughest so far. In celebration we stopped at Mason Lake County Park and laid out on a pontoon eating our way through yet more carbs. On the shore were three generations teaching and learning to fish. It was was cool seeing them cast off (or is that knitting) and ending up in the reeds.
Our lunch breaks seem to be shortening every day and after 15 minutes we carried on around Mason Lake. As we pass through these areas, two things strike you - the houses and surroundings are beautiful, but what do people do here? It is hard to know where they could commute to or what they could do in these idylls. Maybe they are all inspired writers and artists or bicycle tourers dodging the realities and hard work of life.
10 minutes later and all these wonderment's had deserted me. Instead, we were dealing with torrential rain as we cycled on to Shelton. Luckily the route was undulating and largely along wooded roads so although we were soaked, the rain was our only battle ;-)
In the heart of Shelton we pulled into a motel and I had a flash back to Cormac recommending (maybe in jest) that we eat in Blondies restaurant. It could have been because of the rain, but Shelton was not a great place and the motel was the only one so far that had said no to us taking our bikes in to the room. This is funny really as it was also the worst motel we have been in! There was, however, hot water, a comfortable bed and a restaurant in walking distance so we were happy.
The Shelton Visitor Centre - Andy I thought you may think this was cool...
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