To Whittier

Our hopes of walking up to the glacier the next morning were dashed when we established that the charge for a guided tour, the only way you could go, was $150 per person. Free if you’re an Alaskan, but chargeable to everyone else. We decided to leave it, and so we get back on the road and carry on southwards towards Anchorage.

It is pouring with rain and so sadly we can’t see any of the mountain tops as they are all shrouded dark clouds.

We have booked the car in to have a chip on the windscreen repaired and also have to pop into the local camera shop for a spare battery for our camera so we head for downtown Anchorage. It is a clean, compact city, low rise with sea views. Many cruise ships dock here, and there are lots of activities on offer - kayaking, rafting, glacier visits and flights up the valley.

We take our leave of Anchorage and find our way onto the Kenai Road which is the main road through the Kenai Peninsula. The weather has cleared, we spot a moose and the views over the bay are wonderful. The tide is out and there are 2 bald eagles on the mudflats along with several seagulls.

This inlet, called Turnagain Arm, is a bore wave, the only one in the world bordered by mountains making it one of the most extraordinary bore tides in the world. Beluga whales come in on the tide, hence Beluga Point, a popular viewing spot for the whales. We stop here briefly but it is 4 hours until the tide comes in again, so we make a note to time our return trip with high tide.

We decide to explore Whittier as we’ve heard it’s an unusual place, so take the small road off the highway. We come to a sign saying that the Whittier tunnel is a toll tunnel - $13 for the roundtrip - so we decide to go for it. We reach the toll booth, pay the fee and then sit in a lane waiting for the lights to go green - it will be half an hour. The tunnel head is very elegant. We read up on the tunnel while we wait, and it’s fascinating. It is 13,000 ft long, takes 6 minutes to go through, is shared with the railway (the only dual tunnel in North America) and was built in the early 1940s by the military to service Whittier which was a military port on Prince William Sound.

The tunnel is amazing, narrow, dark, dank, hewn out of rock and it is great experience driving along the railway tracks! The speed limit is 25mph which allows us to fully enjoy it, and being the last crossing as it’s 10.30pm, we are the only ones in it.

Coming out on the other side we are introduced to Whittier which we shall explore the next day. For now, we sneak into the last space in the RV beach car park and retire.

The wind gets up during the night, battering our truck at 50mph, and we are buffeted and rocked all night, but feel safe and sound tucked up in our little home.