We were really excited to start our cycling tour of southern Vancouver Island with our friends Tim and Nancy!
We had met Tim and Nancy in Burma in 2013 when we did a two week cycling tour together. Since then we’ve visited them a few times in their home in Tacoma, WA.
The four of us rode out of Nanaimo and towards the town of Chemainus.
Chemainus has "world famous murals" and this mural of First Nation people is on their town's postcard. (See footnotes at the end of the blog for italicized Canadian terminology and facts.)
Their banners had both the Canadian sesquicentennial symbol and a First Nation's image.
We liked the matching flower baskets.
We rode on the unpaved Cowichan Valley Trail for about 20 km. The trail is part of the Trans-Canada Trail, or The Great Trail which will connect bike trails across Canada, some 24,000 km.
We saw a black bear cross the Cowichan Trail in front of Tim. It was so much fun to get to ride with our friends again!
The Cowichan Trail went down to cross a few bridges, then right up at the other side.
We stayed in the town of Cowichan Lake, at a B&B that had a lovely garden.
That evening we walked around the town and down by the river. The light in the evenings was so beautiful.
Pete couldn't resist trying a cone at Lucky Ducky's, a gas bar turned ice cream parlor.
Pete used his iPhone to take an interesting panorama photo of this cool bridge.
After all that riding, we were surprised we had energy for walking around. But we were glad we did.
Day 2: Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew, 71 km with 880 m elevation gain
The next morning we decided to add eight kilometers to the day's ride so we could see Honeymoon Bay on Lake Cowichan.
It was a beautiful spot!
We couldn't resist gathering around for a selfie.
As we rode toward Port Renfrew we experienced traffic due to logging activity. The logging industry is somewhat controversial in Canada, especially exporting raw logs. This sticker "ban log exports" has been defaced to say "log exports".
We were often passed by empty logging trucks.
And then we would see trucks full of logs coming back.
But it was still a beautiful area to ride.
Look Ma, only one hand between the four of ours on the handlebars!
Nancy flashes a peace sign as we cruised along. She and Tim have lots of experience touring, including riding from Maine to Florida during two months of 2012.
We stopped to see the Harris Creek Sitka Spruce, one of the largest Sitka spruce trees in this area. At 80 meters tall with a trunk diameter of four meters, it was an impressive sight.
We like signs that tell us about the flora and fauna of the area.
It helped us learn the name for Red Elderberry Tree.
Elderberries were growing all over Vancouver Island.
We stopped often to check out the scenery.
We rode by Fairy Lake and admired its beauty. We would learn later that the lake is important to the San Juan Salmon Hatchery, as the hatchery catches its brood stock with a fish trap and net at the entrance to Fairy Lake. After the eggs hatch, the young fish live in net pens in Fairy Lake for a year before they are released to the sea.
Photographer Nancy was quick to pull out her camera too. She shared a bunch of her photos with us after the trip, which are included in this blog.
We felt so fortunate to share our ride with Timmy and Nan, and couldn't have asked for better riding partners!
After lunch we walked around the Port Renfrew harbor.
There were reminders of the First Nation people who lived here first.
Port Renfrew is now a big sports fishing town. Maurice Tremblay is a local hero here, because he and his wife Lou started the non-profit San Juan Salmon Hatchery in 1978 that saved the salmon.
Posted on the dock were signs for fishermen to help the hatchery track its progress.
We felt a little guilty eating salmon for dinner, but it was delicious.
Day 3: Port Renfrew to Sooke, 74 km with 1,500 m elevation gain
In Port Renfrew stayed in this cute cabin.
We liked the use of an interesting tree trunk as part of their planter.
Here are the four of us, ready to ride in the cool temperatures that morning.
We spotted this intriguing sign and went to investigate.
We liked the use of an interesting tree trunk as part of their planter.
Here are the four of us, ready to ride in the cool temperatures that morning.
We spotted this intriguing sign and went to investigate.
Who ever heard of a donut shop that doesn't open until 11 am?!
Luckily we had plenty of interesting sights to engage us as we rode out of Port Renfrew.
Behind us is evidence of clear-cutting, the logging practice here, which is quite an eye-sore.
After climbing a few hills we were ready for a snack so we stopped at the Cold Shoulder Cafe.
Pete posed with the rusty Japanese delivery bike in front of the cafe. It reminded us of our Japanese bike tour of 2016.
Fresh coffee and pastries, yum!
Tim and Nancy rode around Tasmania in February 2016, so we asked them all about their adventure. They are considering riding across the US east-to-west in 2019, camping and taking three months to do it.
Since Cold Shoulders didn't have a washroom, we hopped back on our bikes and rode to a nearby campground.
The fog broke near Jordan River, enabling some nice views.
It's so green on Vancouver Island. Tim's got rear Ortleib panniers that are larger than ours.
As does Nancy, which they will need to carry their camping gear if they do another TransAmerica ride.
We saw a Free Little Library on Vancouver Island too. This one had a historic lighthouse theme.
We never got tired of stopping to check out the views of the Pacific Ocean.
Nancy got some great photos.
Later that afternoon we arrived in Sooke. We stayed right on the water.
We probably could have slept in this comfy swinging chair.
Instead we walked to dinner at Wild Mountain restaurant.
The first thing we saw was the restaurant's small garden, which made an excellent first impression.
We started with Sea Angel oysters from nearby Lopez Island.
They were wonderful - both creamy and briny.
We enjoyed a simple salad and chilled pea soup topped with Dungeness crab.
The smoked wild salmon included fresh borage flowers and a borage emulsion from their garden.
For our main courses we shared the house-made charcuterie plate with lamb pepperoni, capicola, bresoala and duck mousse accompanied with pickled vegetables and a rhubarb-salmon berry mostarda.
And we loved the steamed Salt Spring Island clams with snap peas, sopping up the extra broth with hunks of bread.
For dessert we their amazing chocolate pudding and steamed milk with an herbal chai tea. It was a fantastic meal!
Day 4: Sooke to Salt Spring Island, 93 km with 650 m elevation gain
The day started cool. We rode mostly along Galloping Goose and Lochside Trails.
The trails often had wooden bridges to cross the rivers.
Here's our artsy shot of the bikes and riders.
There are lots of beautiful water features on Vancouver Island, too.
We had fun riding on the Galloping Goose Trail.
¡Viva la tur!
This sign makes it clear that it was the old railroad tracks that made today's trail possible.
We had to stop at Ashley's Cookie stand. It was a self-serve, honor system cookie stand.
The trails often had wooden bridges to cross the rivers.
Here's our artsy shot of the bikes and riders.
There are lots of beautiful water features on Vancouver Island, too.
We had fun riding on the Galloping Goose Trail.
¡Viva la tur!
This sign makes it clear that it was the old railroad tracks that made today's trail possible.
We had to stop at Ashley's Cookie stand. It was a self-serve, honor system cookie stand.
Nancy had a loonie.
Pete had a toonie.
And the toonie was enough for two oatmeal raisin cookies.
We ate a picnic lunch in Sidney, not far from where we'd stayed the week before with Cynthia and Humberto and their sons.
Kristina was able to add avocado to our sandwiches without any cutlery.
Next we took the ferry to Salt Spring Island.
It was just a 30 minute voyage, but we liked the pretty views from the ferry.
Salt Spring Island has some hills, so we rode up and over to Ganges harbor.
Notice the boat named Beauty, Eh? It reminded us of the McKenzie Brothers Doug and Bob and the Great White North skit on Saturday Night Live many years ago.
We liked these wind sculptures.
We stayed at the Salt Spring Inn, in perhaps the smallest hotel room we've ever had, but it worked out fine.
Day 5: Salt Spring Island to Nanaimo, 63 km with 680 m elevation gain
We started the day with a short ride to the ferry landing. We had plenty of time to take some photos of the pretty views.
Our last day of the tour was the warmest.
Such a pretty area!
Back on Vancouver Island, we refueled at Tim Horton's.
Then we rode back to Nanaimo via Trans Canada Hwy 1. It was a wonderful tour! Totals for our five day ride was 390 km with 4,600 m elevation gain.
The four of us had dinner together at Aladdin's Cafe.
The long summer nights are perfect for strolling so we went down to the Nanaimo Harbor. With the borrowed scenery of the harbor, we took turns posing in the giant picture frame.
The next morning we had to say good bye to our friends Tim and Nancy.
They got on their bikes and rode to the ferry, so they could go home to Tacoma. And we head next to the Canadian Rockies to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Our last day of the tour was the warmest.
Such a pretty area!
Back on Vancouver Island, we refueled at Tim Horton's.
Then we rode back to Nanaimo via Trans Canada Hwy 1. It was a wonderful tour! Totals for our five day ride was 390 km with 4,600 m elevation gain.
The four of us had dinner together at Aladdin's Cafe.
The long summer nights are perfect for strolling so we went down to the Nanaimo Harbor. With the borrowed scenery of the harbor, we took turns posing in the giant picture frame.
The next morning we had to say good bye to our friends Tim and Nancy.
They got on their bikes and rode to the ferry, so they could go home to Tacoma. And we head next to the Canadian Rockies to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Footnotes
First Nation people are called Native Americans in the US. Chemainus comes from a native shaman and prophet named "Tsa-meeun-is" (Broken Chest). Legend says that the man survived a massive wound in his chest to become a powerful chief. His people took his name to identify their community, the Stz'uminus First Nation, formerly the Chemainus Indian Band. (Source: Wikipedia)
Sesquicentennial is 150th anniversary, which Canada is celebrating this year.
A gas bar is a gas station.
As of April 2017, The Great Trail had 22,000 kms of completed trails. But it's not without its critics, who cite the 6,000 kms of non-trail required to ride the east-west route across Canada.
The Harris Creek Sitka Spruce is in an area that was logged in the 1890s and it is not known why this tree was spared. In 2012 the area was protected from future logging.
The San Juan Salmon Hatchery needs 1,000 adult Chinook salmon, 250 females and 750 males each year, in order to get the required 1 million eggs. They aim to take less than one-half of fish in the river, leaving the other half to spawn naturally. With 1 million eggs, they can produce enough Chinook salmon for a noticeable improvement in fish stock returns. Their work has resulted in the salmon population rebounding from almost zero to 5,000 mature adults returning to spawn last year!
Washroom is a public restroom. Interestingly we would learn that a washroom could be as simple as an outhouse without any water.
Loonies are one dollar coins. They get their name from the loon on the face of the coin.
Toonies two dollar coins. Our guess is that any word that includes the "oo" sound is bound to catch on in Canada!
Cutlery is silverware.
Eh? is added to a phrase when the speaker expects agreement. Bob and Doug McKenzie used to say "Beauty, Eh?", to indicate something was really cool.
The ubiquitous Tim Horton's coffee shop offers donuts called Timbits. Did you know that Canada has more doughnut shops per capita than anywhere else in the world? Beauty, eh? Thanks for reading!
