26 August 2009
After securing The Baron, I wandered up to the ferry cafe and met with my fellow bikers. Dave from Calgary, Josh from Vancouver, Pierre from somewhere I can’t remember! Hubbe (pronounced U-B), Jeff and Dan from California. I had a cabin but the others were sleeping on deck which meant that I was teased for being posh for having a proper bed – the teasing really affected me while I slept soundly!! |
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| We ended up in the bar the first night (there's a shock!!) and had a great time! The bar staff were brilliant and the other travellers were good company and a lot of fun. | |
Alaska has the longest coastline in America and it is actually longer than the rest of the American coast added together and the inside passage is very beautiful. We spotted a huge school of humpback whales behind the ship but I didn’t manage to get any photos of them as I wanted to watch rather than miss them while running down to my cabin to get my camera. Apart from Josh’s magnetic crocodile, Cyprus, I’m afraid that was the only wildlife I saw on the ferry trip – that and the bar on the first night – but it was lovely scenery all the same. We were joined on the second night by a lovely couple of ladies from Seattle called Ingrid and Shannon. They were riding the most spotless Harleys I have ever seen! These ladies livened up the evening and were great, fun company.
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Josh shows off his riding skills after a whole stack of beer!! |
The Inside Passage is very beautiful - with or without the wildlife! |
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Brings a whole new meaning to camping it up on deck! Dave packs up his stuff after a noisy and windy couple of nights (while I slept soundly in my cabin!). |
Hubbe and Josh aren't impressed with 4.30 am at the ferry port in Prince Rupert! |
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The ferry docked at Prince Rupert and threw us off at the ridiculous time of 4.30am so we rode round the town looking for somewhere to get a coffee at a time when, if I’m awake, I’m usually heading to bed! The Californian guys went on and we left the Seattle girls at the port waiting for their connecting ferry. Dave was itching to get on the road so left us at the cafe – so the last three of Hubbe, Josh and me drank coffee and waited for the fog to clear enough to be able to see our way... oh, and the sun to rise of course! On the way down to Prince George I was riding in the middle and saw a black bear approaching the road, going too fast to stop safely, I gestured wildly to Josh behind me and he managed to stop and watched the bear wander across the road right behind him!
The next few days the gang of three rode together towards Vancouver – Josh had persuaded me to ride the ‘Sea to Sun’ route rather than my planned route and I’m very glad he did as the road was fabulous. We did some long days and I finally admitted defeat when the tiredness got too much and waved the guys goodbye. I then checked into a hotel in Whistler for three nights to recover and get some retail therapy!
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Hubbe's great hardtail Harley chop which he has ridden in all 49 of the mainland States of America - a major achievement on any bike... but a hardtail?!!!Oh... and did I mention it has a car tyre on the rear?!! He describes the cornering as "Exciting"!! I watched it skipping across the road when he banks it over... hmmm.....! If I said he is originally Swedish would that explain it better?!Check out the race car he build on his website - he builds incredible cars and specialises in transmission work. |
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It all got too much so I crashed out under the bike for a kip... then woke up and drank all of Josh's coffee thinking he'd bought it for me - thanks Josh! |
Find out next time what happened to Herr Baron on the way to Lake Louise.
