Well, we won’t miss staying in Woss. We both slept poorly. It became very cold in the night, yet we decided not to use most of the bedding as we didn’t trust that the blankets etc had been washed in some time. We also chose not to sleep on our camping mats as the floor had years of accumulated mystery deposits.
It is a shame. Woss is an ideal stop for cyclists since it is the only place with accommodation between Sayward and Port McNeill. The alternative of riding the distance of 150 km seems to be an unnecessary toll to put on our bodies. On the up side, the hotel and restaurant are for sale. As there is a ski hill nearby, perhaps someone with vision will see that there is potential for success with a clean and updated motel.
Like so many run down properties, the other (few) occupants were long timers and as the evening wore on, the combination of a lot of alcohol and verbal fights kept us indoors. Thankfully hockey was a good distraction...and the Canucks won. Yeah!! They will play the seventh game in the series tonight. Plus we watched a downloaded copy of Little Women from Prime Video with earplugs. We were ok.
There is no pub in Woss, yet this area served the locals well last night.
We got a good start, dressed in layers, as it was a cool 12 degrees with the nip of fall in the air . The low cloud cover over the mountains was quite striking and within an hour, blue sky started to appear. Today, we were pleased that there weren’t any rumble strips. Unfortunately, that means that there were no shoulders. At times, we pulled over to let logging trucks pass, and they honked in appreciation.
What a beautiful morning. We enjoyed seeing this mountain emerge from the clouds and fog.
We had looked forward to seeing Nimpkish Lake which stretches alongside the highway for over 20 km. Unfortunately, we were able to glimpse it only once or twice through the trees.
Telegraph Cove is a small community that is world renowned as a centre for whale watching and other wildlife. It is 32 km return, so we’ll give it a miss this trip.
The last two days we have left the Oceanside route and are now on the North Island route. We think that Vancouver Island offers so much diversity and nature to explore.
We were eager to find a rest stop throughout the ride today, but alas, there was not one to be found. Finally, after more than 60 km, we were excited to see a Petro Canada station at Hyde Creek. Lucky for us, they had bathrooms and many choices of home cooked food. We had a good break.
Barry, a happy traveller now that we have found a rest stop in Hyde River.
I’m sure that it seems odd to be so excited by a Petro Canada station, but trust me, when you have nowhere to safely pull off the road to make lunch or find a bathroom, this place is a highlight for us.
From Hyde River to Port McNeill, the local community has created a walking path along the highway with benches. This trail continues all the way into the town of Port McNeill at the coast.
It was a different ride today as we rode pretty much non stop. We enjoyed the ride and seeing new country, but it was pretty rugged lacking a shoulder to ride on and no services or places to take a break. We rode alongside several fully loaded logging trucks and did our best to pull over and give them room. We continue to find that northern Vancouver Island, in spite of the lack of infrastructure, can be welcoming to cyclists. Certainly it is a reciprocal relationship, but we do credit the drivers of the big rigs, trucks and logging trucks with extending their professionalism and respect to us.
In no time we arrived in Port McNeill. Due to riding flat out, we were here in less than 3 hours. Port McNeill has done much to make their small town inviting and attractive. The waterfront is interesting and quite beautiful. This small town has enough services to provide what we need and we have enjoyed spending some time here.
Like the residents here, the crow was very friendly at the marina.
As hockey fans, we are impressed that this small community of 2700 people has raised two NHL players. Willie Mitchell, a Vancouver Canucks player for many years, and Clayton Stoner, a current player for the Vegas Knights. When Willie played for the LA Kings and won the Stanley Cup, he brought the Cup to his home community of Port McNeill for some festivities and this small town of 2700 swelled to 3700 for the day. A proud day. And yes, this community has an Arena and a swimming pool. Very impressive.
Humpback Motel is brand new and reasonably priced, so we gave it a try. It is in the middle of the village adjacent to the waterfront. It suits us -a good place to stop for the night.
Tomorrow we have a short day of riding, about 40 km to the ferry terminal for our sailing to Prince Rupert. The ferry leaves at 6 pm and we need to be there by 4 pm, so this should give us a leisurely morning in Port McNeill.
Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles) Total: 433 km (269 miles)
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Jacquie Gaudet"..lacking a shoulder to ride on and no services or places to take a break..." That about sums up why I haven't toured much in my home province of BC. Kudos to you! Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Barry BartlettThanks Jacquie ! Our ride up Vancouver Island was generally ok regarding shoulders and road conditions. However, the ride from Prince Rupert to Prince George would have been far more difficult as there were many long stretches with no shoulders or services. As well there was a section of over 50 km of construction where there was no shoulder. We were glad that we had rented a U-Haul to transport our bike and gear. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
