We’re on day 4 of of our tour, and have been given a variety of weather conditions so far.. Today is cold with buckets of rain coming down. A nice change from the the blistering heat that was given to us on days 1+2. Have made it to Port Alberni, BC a bit quicker than expected, our legs are getting stronger, and both Jen and I have commented how we are starting to understand hunger, and little signs from our bodies that the energy is dissipating. We managed to get on our bikes about 11:30 on Saturday, and cycled the seawall before crossing the Lions Gate Bridge. Traffic was very heavy but we opted to take the Georgia street path since we had both done the seawall route many times before leading up to this trip. A nice leisurely ride up and down some hilly areas of West Vancouver took us over to Horseshoe Bay, to allow us to Catch the Langdale Ferry over to the Sunshine Coast. It was hot, luckily we had two hours to wait for the next boat, so indugled in some beers on a patio.
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After a quick 40 minute boat ride we somehow opted to ride UP the hill into Gibsons, BC. Why we didn’t take the old ‘easier’ highway is beyond us, but let’s just say it was a lesson in gearing, pacing, and pedalling until the next shade spot. Once we made it to the top after an hour and fifteen minutes it was fairly smooth sailing. Grabbed some beer and continued onto Roberts Creek. Took another turn INTO the town, instead of continuing down Highway 101, and by then we were both cranky and tired. We found a great little spot to stealth camp and cooked a meal, before sleeping deeply from our 65km day.
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The next morning saw us up at 7:30, and on the road by 10. Sluggish and slow, we started learning ways of efficiency. The sun was beating down on us again and we finally stopped for lunch at Pender Harbour, where there were a bunch of guys trying to get a cat out of a tree. They didn’t want to call the fire department as its a small town and they didn’t want to get razzed for the next couple times when they ran into the Firemen at the local pub. They did not succeed by the time we finished our soup. I’ll write a review later on our stove, but man oh man is that thing loud! Sure it runs on jet fuel, but doesn’t need to sound like one!
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We just missed the ferry from Earls Cove to Saltery Bay by a minute, and had another 2 hour wait. Anxious to get going, we planned our next step – should we pedal to Powell River? Camp at Saltery Bay? We decided that going into Powell River and camping on Crown Land (and by Crown Land, we’re thinking the Courthouse) would be our best option. We wanted to catch the first ferry over to Vancouver Island at 8 and didn’t know the distance or terrain we’d have to cover and thought it would be best while we had lots of energy. At the same time We ended up meeting another cyclist who runs the hostel in Roberts Creek who provided us with a a couple sticks of chocolate to help us cycle the long hill once off the ferry. The book we were relynig on didn’t give us any indication of how long we’d have to cycle to get to Powell River, and by 10pm it was getting dark and my GPS was still saying 25km. Thank goodness we decided to keep on going. We picked up some more beer from the convenience store and free-camped in a Salmon spawning ground. Day 2 saw us cycle 82km.
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The clouds were rolling in and we heard rumbles of rain to be coming. At 3am I woke up and ran out of the tent, grabbing our panniers with rain gear, hearing thunder from far away. It didn’t take long for it to start coming down onto our tent. We packed up and were on the road by 6:45 with a minimal breakfast and just made the ferry in time… The ferry was an excellent opportunity to charge cameras, GPS’s, and get a good meal into us before from what we understood to be our longest day cycling. The rain was coming down and the sea was full of chop on the ferry ride over to Comox. We donned our raingear and trudged forward for a few hours stopping to see the sights at Union Bay, Deep Bay and Qualicum Bay. We deviated from our course and headed up to the new Island Highway sooner than we should have and burned ourselves out pretty hard frmo the hill. Once we were on the new highway however, it was fairly smooth riding. I experienced a pretty awesome optical illusion that looked like we were heading straight up a hill, yet were going down. Jen understood it, I still do not. We made it to Highway 4, and turned into the town of Coombs, where they have all sorts of touristy attractions like goats on top of a rooftop of a store, a bunch of marble statues, and other silly things. The serious part about it was the fact that we found a campsite with a shower, hot tub, and electricity. We were both pretty exhausted from cycling 103km.
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I already mentioned the weather today on Day 4, but this was a fairly short one. Cycling only 43km, however up a windy hill reaching the Alberni summit of 440m was one of the highlights. We saw many cyclists coming down the other side hooting and hollering. A break was taken at Mcmillan Park, where there is old growth cedar trees and many walking paths. Some of the trees are thousands of years old! By the time we made it into Port Alberni we opted to go walk around the aisles of the Walmart to stock up on some food, fuel, and dry our gloves before setting off hunting for the beer store and a camping spot. We should have stayed put where we were however instead we decided to cycle down the hill where there is minimal amenities. Luckily we found a motel that allowed us to pitch our tent and is offering us warm showers and access to their guest computer! Once I finish writing this we are going to cycle a few more kilometres in addition to the 43 that were done to celebrate my 31st birthday.
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Tommorrow is an early day, as we will take the Lady Rose from the Port Alberni Harbour all the way to Ucluelet before cycling to the Soundwave Music Festival. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of the rainy days. Update to come next week.
Happy Birthday!