Desperate to get off the bikes for a bit, we hightailed it to Skagway, home of cruise liner tat. It was a beautiful ride down through the mountains, scenery like what you see in the brochures. Unfortunately Skagway itself was marred by an infinite number of jewellery shops, I mean, what is with cruise liners and jewellery shops anyway? I’ve never understood that one.
Mike getting in on some snow train action - the only thing that doesn't invlove a jewellery store in Skagway!
Finally it was time to put our feet up and rest, for a few hours at least. The earliest ferry we could catch was one that went from Skagway to Juneau, capital of Alaska and home of the Alaskan Brewing Company.
The hostel in Juneau was definitely unique in one respect; it was the cheapest IYH I’d seen. To keep the cost down there was a ‘shoes off at the door’ policy and all guests were issued with a chore. I thought she was joking about the chore to start with but when I got told I’d be wiping down the kitchen bench, I realized she wasn’t. No probs though, I would have wiped down the kitchen bench before using it anyways. Mike had to vacuum the spare 2m2 in his dorm room. It’s a hard life being on the road and having to do domestic chores.
Juneau wasn’t too bad a capital city, and of course we had to visit the brewery, where we were minor celebrities. Tara and her hubby (We'd been on the Prudhoe Bay Oil tour with them, and then again on the ferry to Juneau) had visited earlier and told the guys working there about us, so when we turned up on the bikes, there was the usual battering of questions. The only problem of turning up to a brewery on bikes though is the issue of free samples. At this brewery they were very generous with their samples. You get a glass before you head in (you can duck out for a top-up during the spiel if you’ve downed the first glass before you’ve finished learning about how beer is flavoured) and then they try to ply you with as much of the stuff as they can before you leave. We just had to be content with buying some for the road.
It's all about the flavour at the Alaskan Brewing company
From Juneau to Prince Rupert we took the slow ferry, stopping at numerous ports. Good fortune shone upon us again when, queuing up to board the ferry, we got talking to Larry and Willy, two old pro-racers taking life a little slower these days and just mooching around Alaska. On the overnight ferries you have the option of paying extra for a cabin or pitching your tent (Duck tape instead of pegs) on the top deck. Or you can just roll out your sleeping bag on the sun loungers. Mike and I were quite looking forward to this, waking up in the morning to the beautiful view, probably at 5am due to the early sunrise. However, having told Larry and Willie our intentions, they proceeded to sneak off and pay for us to have our own cabin for the two nights we were on board. Cool, a real bed and our own bathroom. I know I’ve said it before, but the generosity of people still astounds me. So not being able to get on the ferry that we’d originally wanted had its benefits.
Willie and Larry getting their bikes ready.
Although we didn’t see any bears, we did see a lot of other wild life as we sailed down through the fjords, including Orcas, porpoises and whales. We also saw some truly unique Alaskans, reiterating the adage for a woman in Alaska, ‘The odds are good, but the goods are odd!’ Sitka, the former Russian capital of Alaska, takes the cake for this as we spent an evening drinking with Bo and Christina, a young couple with their tent pitched on the ferry.
The Vikings have arrived in Petersburg.
You know when you eat something that is so delicious, you’d seriously consider travelling from the other side of the world, just to eat there again. Well, we discovered the best cinnamon rolls in the world. Petersburg, or Little Norway as it is locally known, was the town. I can’t remember the name of the bakery but if you fancy a taste, it’s just along the road a bit, on the left, as you’re heading into town from the ferry terminal. You can smell it long before you’ve reached it and I doubt you’d be able to resist the temptation. Sailing down the inside passage was definitely a highlight of our trip for me. Maybe that’s because I could just sit inside out of the cool breeze, watching the world float by. Or maybe it is because it is spectacularly beautiful.
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