Gremlin's Tall Stories

My alarm rang at 5.15am… yep, 5.15am, at the request of Murray. He was on the early boat to Victoria, which left Port Angeles at 1.15pm and had to be there at 12.15pm. To make sure he was on that boat, I made sure he was awake, and he was already in the shower.

A few mutterings to him to close the blinds once he was done (it was still dark), I set my alarm for 7am and rolled over and went back to sleep. The alarm dutifully rang, I turned off and rolled over again, thinking a few more minutes.

As is the way... I woke with a start… Where had the last 1.5 hours gone? So much for a normal start and cruising to the boat. Dressed and went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast. More yoghurt and cereal, topped off with orange juice. I grabbed a banana on the way out, for a snack later.

Packing turned into a leisurely affair, getting distracted by the weather channel, until a maid came in, thinking the room had been vacated (I haven’t come across one accommodation yet, that fully gets 2 people sharing a room). Got a shifty on, loaded the bike, checked out both room keys and got on the road at 10.30am.

Up and over the impressive bridge from yesterday’s pictures, the other side was dead flat. Karen was confusing me and making me a little nervous, saying I would only reach the ferry shortly before 4pm with my intended route continuing around the coast through the Olympic National Park, instead of the more direct route to Port Angeles. Including the constant drizzle, I decided to re-adjust and take the direct route.

Up the road I still had time to make a decision, and the weather had cleared, so I decided for my original route while taking the odd required turn. Just as I was second-guessing myself for the second time, I realised the destination was on Vancouver Island, and checking the route notes, the GPS was including the sailing time and distance in its calculations, so I actually had more time than I previously thought.

Much relaxed, I decided on the original route, and shortly came across a small town, South Bend where I filled up with gas. From there, I was good to go and settled into riding the roads, being careful not to speed as the speed limit kept changing. I didn’t like Oregon much because of speeds, and Washington was much of the same. It was rare to find a limit in excess of 55mph, which is less than 100kph.

I took the 101 North, past Hoquiam, when it finally became 60mph, which was better than 55mph. The roads were a little damp, but dry enough to not be too concerned. I stopped for a few pictures when the scenery was beautiful and just south of Forks I went down a side road to see a big cedar tree. A much needed toilet stop and I estimated I was good to go until Port Angeles.

It started getting a little uncomfortable, but I carried on. Wet paint in one section had me following a truck for several miles at 10mph… why, I have no idea, as the oncoming traffic was free to go.

I was starting to relax… it appeared cops stayed in the city, which suited me just fine. I had this revelation removed real fast however, when entering another boring straight to have K band go off. Very unusual, I remained in the grey area, and came across a cop parked on the roadside, tucked behind tall grass… Definitely like NZ. He didn’t want to chat to me and I was fine with that.

After that, it was some beautiful coastline along a lake. The buggers had set the limit at 35mph purely because of the tighter corners, but the car in front was having none of that. Assuming he was local (or at least, more local than I) I settled in behind, content to make him the rabbit.

It wasn’t many miles to Port Angeles, so I carried on, reaching the small town around 3.30pm, well in time for my check-in before 4.15pm. Ate the banana, checked in, paid my fare, and then explored the town a little.

Gave in to a couple of mud cookies or something, looked a lot like Squiggles, but had other stuff inside, but very yummy. Found a restaurant, asked for something quick, and was told fish and chips were a good idea, so had that and a lemonade. Nicely presented (as you can see from the picture) and tasted pretty good (best fish and chips in USA so far) but when I went to pay, $18.90. Talk about a captive audience!

Back to the bikes, chatted to other bikes, and there was a mix, some local to Victoria and some F800GS riders (with an old Multistrada in tow) were picking their brains. I listened in, gaining some knowledge, then asked a few questions.

Before long, we went onto the boat, which has a weird policy of only letting so many bikes on at once. They made us wait before showing us parks, nothing dedicated for bikes and no tie down points on deck. Ropes were strung from the bars to tie the bikes to, except they made me park on the right side of the boat, so the rope was useless (unless you wanted to pull the bike over). I enquired about turning around, but they told me they’d unload from the front, so I parked up. I grabbed some chocks and stuck them under the centre stand on the right hand side, to try and stop the bike from falling to the right.

Half an hour after departing Port Angeles, the boat started rolling from side to side (so much for smooth sailings), I’m quickly writing up the day’s blog before doing previous days and I’m nervous as hell that the bike has fallen over…

After an hour of worrying, we were close to docking, and they were closing the section I was in, so I headed for the bike. Luckily my fears were unfounded… the bike was safe. Someone else’s had fallen over (an F800GS), to the right, but luckily they were against a wall, so it had a very short way to fall.

Queued up to leave the ferry, queued to be let into Canada (I wonder what happens if they don’t let you in?). Customs guy asked some questions, what are you doing, are you leaving anything here, carrying any weapons etc. Pocket knives and tools evidently didn’t rate a mention… everyone seems to be concerned about guns…

Four others in the group were on the same boat, and not exactly sure of the location for the accommodation, so I led everyone there (only thought later that night I should have checked which side I needed to ride on… I just assumed it was the right. Ferries for me don’t usually mean a change in country!!

Unloaded the bike, quick sluce in the shower and I was already being chased by the rest heading for dinner, so off we went in the van. One wanted to get Canadian dollars, and thinking it was probably a good idea, given that we’re IN Canada, I got some as well.

An Irish Pub for dinner, where the waitresses were cute and dressed in kilts. Didn’t summon up the courage to ask if they were wearing them properly… one of ladies said she would… she lied Dinner came to about CN$31, but was Shepherd’s Pie, two drinks and rhubarb crumble, plus the usual tip of 15%.

Walked back to the hotel, continued blogging previous days. Will shower and head to bed shortly. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3zN7rzn262hLVVeS9