June 22 and June 23

I don’t know what happened, I wrote blog entries for both of these days but for some reason they did not post so I am re-doing them.

 

On June 22 we rode from Quilcene to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria.  Distance was 53 miles bringing the total to 1114.  This was a mostly fun ride and the best part was that we discovered the Olympic Discovery Trail which is a multiuse trail that extends from about Port Townsend westward.  It is “bumpy” with a few very sharp ups and downs but for the most part is a nice break from riding along the road sides. 

 

At one point we came across a doe with three fawns in the trail.  We stopped and she and tow of the fawns went into the woods to oour left but the third continued to run along the trail for about a ¼ mile before going into the woods to the right. 

 

I had some minor mechanical problems with the shifter on my chain ring but managed to make a temporary repair on the road and we replaced a simple missing part as we arrived in Port Angeles. 

The ferry ride was a bit rough due to windy conditions but not bad overall. 

 

Victoria is beautiful and we got to walk around some of the downtown in the afternoon.

 

On June 23 we played tourist and went to the Butchart Gardens which are a beautiful set of gardens set into an old quarry and the grounds of the old Butchart estate.  I was very jealous of the growing season they have here and the variety of plants that they can grow. 

 

To get to the Gardens we rode 21 more miles bringing the total to 1135 but we took the city bus back to the hotel with the bikes on the front.  We had a good dinner at The Flying Otter which is a restaurant right on the waterfront in the harbor and where the seaplanes take off from.  It was fun watching the little water taxis and the seaplanes and other activity at the harbor.

 

Victoria is a very nice city, very bike friendly with a couple of great bike trails we may want to come back and try some other time.