We had a great tour overall, and the train ended up being much easier than I thought, although a little more complicated at first. We ended up getting lightweight duffle bags we could put our two back panniers into and check as luggage, then carried on my trunk bag and my husbands two small front panniers as carry ons. They put our bikes onboard, which was great. We loved that train ride going north, it was awesome!

The first few miles from the train station in Vancouver were lovely, right along the waterfront, past the marina and high end condos, it was mostly brick and stone pathways. After that first stretch it wasn't so great, and the next day out of Richmond was not so pleasant at all. This was an Adventure Cycling recommended route, and like shootingstar said, not only through a very car-centric area but a heavily truck traffic industrial area (NO shoulder for miles and miles...we were just a foot or two from these huge trucks) We will NEVER do that again. And several gruesome bridges and hills...long, long, long bridges oh my gosh. And of course we took several wrong turns on the way, which didn't help matters. Oh well.

From Blaine south, it was just incredibly beautiful... loved it and could have ridden all day long. Especially enjoyed taking Chuckanut Drive going south, as this seemed so much easier and less hilly than the RSVP route going north. It was most or all wide shoulder, or at least some shoulder, you weren't up against the rocky cliff in places AND you were on the waterfront side of the road, so it made it easier to stop at the scenic turnouts and take pictures, rest, enjoy the view. Lovely.