1st time touring in Canada! ....after all those years of touring overseas.
-1335kms. 13 days in a row. 83 hours pedalling. 19,501 calories.
-No forest fire smoke. No rain (almost...just a bit in the wee morning hours in Ucluelet)
-long days! Awake first light at 4:15, then the birds around 4:30....pedalling by 5am most of the time. Some evenings I pedalled until 7-8pm...sublime.
-Some areas reminded me of Colombia/Ecuador! the hot dry Fraser river area, the thick vegetation approaching the west coast of the island, the narrow, winding, sometimes steep roads just before you hit the ocean in Tofino and Port Renfrew.
-Wore sandals the whole time, carried my shoes for nothing! ...and the rain gear.
-30kg....bike, equipment, water and food. 15-20kg less than previous years with two front panniers and a backpack on the back. Lighter gear: tent, sleeping bag etc. Didn't bring a stove and never missed it.
-1st time returning from a tour the same wieght! 😟 Such is touring in Canada with a tap credit card, stopping in bakeries and coffee shops!
-Wild camped most of the time. Paid to camp 3 times. Plus a night on Auntie Sheena's floor in Nanaimo and Ryan's camper van in Victoria.
-Gorged on wild: Strawberries, blackberries, huckleberries, salalberries, raspberries, thimbleberries, saskatoons and mostly Salmonberries! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_spectabilis
-No flats....the only mechanical issue....a pedal fell off. Just had to screw the inside nut back on (not the spindle to the crank)
-100% aches, pains, injury free. Gotta love that Selle SMP TRK gel saddle!
Where I/we made it to each day:
Lillooet-Pemberton-Langford-Saltery Bay-Qualicum falls-Ucluelet-Tofino-(took the bus from Tofino to Parksville--the same section we'd already biked) Nanaimo-somewhere between Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew-Shirley-Victoria-Porteau Cove-start of Duffy Lake Road climb
-The idea was to loop back to Lillooet via the Fraser Canyon, but it was closed due to wildfires and the fact that the town of Lytton had burned down, the day after it set the record for Canada's highest temperature ever, 49.5C
Yup....tradition demands that I start with a road kill shot. The damn thing wouldn't stop staring at me.
Spent the night in the van and left it 13km north of Lilloet with Vera....a warmshowers host. She gifted me with some soapberry to power me on my way!
Cayoosh creek
A wee bit steep. I was thinking I was lucky I didn't have to climb up this side. Turns out I did with the Fraser Canyon road still being closed on the way back.
Wild strawberry.....
Wild camping.....
....with an owl watching over me that night.
Anyone remember the Beachcombers? 70's CBC TV servies. I'd been here as a kid in my stepfather's 25ft boat.
Sunrise at Gibsons
Low bush/ground level Blackberries.
Thimbleberries
Golden Salmonberries
Huckleberries
Red Salmonberry
Salal berries
Just some native fruit in Sechelt :)
Red Salmonberries....my fave
Lined up with the fossil fuel burners (Yes I know it requires a good amount of fossil fuel be make the machine I'm riding on...and the road!) for the ferry to Saltery Bay on the Sunshine Coast...which was actually sunny.
Powel River
Sa
Safely tucked into the corner for the sailing to Comox.
Only rum....no water to fill out bottles
West Coast Life
Cameron Lake....Conor stretching
Met Conor in a campsite after Saltery Bay. We joined forces for about a week. 25 year old Irish lad on a work visa-bio/medical engineer. Plans to ride down to old Mexico and beyond...in the not too distant future!
Conor goes for it......
I have no idea why they would call this a pass???
Roadside coffee a la Conor
Cement barriers are great for stretching the back/shoulder blades!
No neck cover? No problem....just use your (dirty?) undies
They grow 'em big around these parts...
Conor demonstrating his cornering skills on the new Tofino/Ucluelet raceway....I mean pathway.
Riding on Long Beach at Lowish tide
The new Zed hotel, with a drive thru bike path??? No joking. https://www.hotelzed.com/zed-tofino/
$60 dollar tent site in Tofino. Ouch. Good thing we could split the cost.
Hadn't seen Auntie Sheena for 16 years. Great to catch up! Slept on her floor in Nanaimo.
Then dropped by to visit a collegue ...Mama Char...and her husband Joe and daughter Sophie in Chemainus. Thanks for the great lunch too!
Cat got your tongue?
Fairy Lake
A newt!
Bug trying to steal my Salmonberry....or is it the other way around? What kind of insect is that? (Al tells me it's a raspberry bug...and that I'll know it if I eat one accidentaly)
Sign on coffe shop door in Port Renfrew
Clever Spider!
How to pop a wheelie on a loaded bike. BTW....he's riding a 25 year old Raleigh that he paid $150 for.
No photo essay of the coast would be complete without a photo of a slug!
What a gate!
Sheringham Lighthouse
A goat doing yoga?............or
.....someone doing goat yoga?? I don't get it.
Boohoo....and so we parted ways. Conor had to get to his new job in Squamish and I was off to visit Ryan and Elina's place in Victoria.
freaky.
BC parliament
Elina has the coolest shades ever.
One reason why I didn't loose weight on this tour.
The lovely couple about to part ways.....Elina to do a Masters at SFU and Ryan to do Carpentry/red seal in Halifax.
Just wasn't enuf time to listen to as much of his musicianship as I would have like to.
Riding with Elina on her 45min commute to work on the Lochside pathway.....I carried on to Swartz Bay.
Blackberries....sweet and juicy.
Ok....this was not wild. I hopped a small ditch into an enormous commercial operation and stuffed myself silly...barely making a dent in blueberry bush.
This guy was singing in fluent Spanish....he's Japanese.
Cheeky buggers
Great retro? style in West Vancouver
Love the name of this boat.
Says it all about the start of this summer, with the record smashing temps and wildfires.
Howe sound
The mighty Chief on the right near squish/Squamish
Chatted with this dude for a while. He's biked across Canada, walked across Canada and now because of Covid, he has been sticking to the stretch of road between Pemberton and Squamish. 8 times so far. Picking garbage!!!! Check him out on the Million bottle pledge: https://www.facebook.com/millionbottlepledge/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UknyZYhLDew&t=84s
What he does is called 'plogging' who knew? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plogging
Collard green wrap at the Green Moustache in Whistler: https://www.greenmoustache.com/
Mountain raspberries
Was I tempted? Whistler...the disneyland of downhill biking....so they tell me.
I'll stick to the roads and backroads....
Mt Currie sunrise. 15k steeeeeep climb....took me 2:15....to outrun the killer mozzies at the bottom and the old griz near the top. 1000m plus climb.
Mt. Joffre
Duffy Lake
Saskatoons
Roadside cherries in Salmon Arm
....and my yearly 5 lb box of blueberries....all in one go, all to myself :)
Don and Deb waiting to get out on the new Honda
Lunch in at a Japanese restaurant in Enderby with Mom.
Next up?
Will the US border open in time this summer to ride the California coast????
No comments:
Post a Comment