Day 7. Port Townsend to Bremerton, WA

We're getting better at starting earlier with an 8:15 start in light rain from Port Townsend and arrival in Bremerton at 5:30 for a 54 mile day. We had thought about pushing further today to the small town of Belfair but the hills and headwinds convinced us otherwise. A nice day. We even saw the sun in the afternoon!


The best 7 miles of the trip so far was the Larry Scott Trail we picked up in Port Townsend.  Even though we had the light rain it was a beautiful ride in the coastal forest on a soft bed of packed soil and leaves. It used to be a rail road to Port Angeles but was converted to  rail-trail.  Hurrah for Rails-to Trails!!

After a late breakfast in Port Ludlow we met Leanne and Katherine on the first week of their bike trip. We bumped into them a little later at a mini-mart break. They originally planned to ride to Key West across Washington, Idaho and Montana but due to the forest fires across those states they are now heading our way along the coast to San Francisco where they will turn east across Nevada and Utah and Colorado where they will grab on to the TransAmerica Trail. They are blogging on the following YouTube channel: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dMDufe0PCeI

Good luck Leanne and Katherine!

After 40 miles it's now 2:30 and time for lunch of oranges, nuts, chocolate milk, Nutella and pretzel chips.  We decided to graze out of our panniers as the coastal hills are relentless and any weight lost is a help. We even left a paper back book behind at the gas station to save weight. We also are contemplating shortening the day with a stop in Bremerton, about 12 miles further or push on to Belfair 27 miles away.  Angela's taken a lot more interest in the daily planning and logistics of our days which I appreciate, as long as she agrees with me!  This time we both decided to take it easy and stop in Bremerton, just across the Puget Sound from Seattle. 

I had been itching to get my hair cut short so when I saw the "Man's Club Barber Shop in Silverdale I knew it was fate.  I even had to cinch up my bike helmet a bit.  Where is all of my once dark brown hair going?  Tomorrow we're hoping the prevailing northerly winds will return!!