Bike Trip Day 3: Port Ludlow to Issaquah

Biking: 45 miles

Today was a day of rerouting, and generally getting by on our wits. We found out last night that the fast ferry from Kingston to Seattle wasn’t running today, and it looked like our only option was to add another 30+ miles to our route. That didn’t sit well with us.

When I told Brian last night, he asked why we weren’t taking a ferry from another port. Hmmm….that got me thinking, and searching. Turns out, a nearby port has a fast ferry to Seattle – Bainbridge Island. And biking there instead of Kingston only adds 10 miles to our day. We didn’t have time to do a full analysis of the bike route options, so Mark used Google to find a mostly safe riding route that got us from Port Ludlow to the ferry at Bainbridge Island. We had to guess at a few turns, and cross a bridge on foot, but we made it.

What we didn’t anticipate was just how much climbing we would do on the new route. It felt like all we did was climb for 27 miles (around 2000 feet). But, we arrived just in time to load our bikes as the last few cars were pulling in.

We landed in Seattle and biked to Pike Place Market, but couldn’t find a place to lock up our bikes, so we walked up the hill and ate at an incredible Turkish restaurant. I wish I had a picture of the kebabs and the baklava that I ate for lunch…so good.

After lunch we rode through Seattle and out to the I-90 trail, which was a pretty crazy trip through a dozen or more intersections and out onto a highway bridge. I don’t know how we found our way, but Mark kept turning at the right places. I will say, Seattle has good infrastructure for cycling. The shoulders are wide and the bike lanes downtown are protected. It wasn’t particularly dangerous just confusing sometimes.

The I-90 trail runs along the highway, and it can be loud.

Once we were out of the city, the bike trails had detours and unmarked turns. It was an adventure. Somehow we found our way to our destination. And, we’re ready for the next challenge tomorrow.

RWGPS for today:

Segment #1 Port Ludlow to Bainbridge Island

Segment #2 Seattle to Issaquah