July 25, 2025
Day 3 — Dionisio Point to Ruckle Park
Marilee here.
We had to get an early start -- not our favourite, but we managed it -- in order to make a 9:55am ferry to SaltSpring Island. This whole trip will be dictated by ferry timetables: we have something like 15 ferry rides over the planned 18 days of the trip. Today, just one ferry to catch, but it required a 25km hilly ride to get there, basically redoing yesterday's ride by 9:45, and we didn't want to take chances. So we were up early (for us) and on the road before 8am -- without coffee! A true test of our fortitude.
And, as it turned out, a very lovely ride through forests and meadows, with early morning smells of dewy grasses and blissfully car-free roads to enjoy almost the whole way back to Sturdies Bay. We even had time to get a coffee and breakfast sandwich at a bakery just up the road from the ferry terminal.
The ride to SaltSpring was short, about 40 minutes, and for us mostly a chance to recharge devices -- something relatively new for us on bike trips, when we're more inclined to turn phones off except in times of need. But as this is a shakeout trip, its time to test new things-- like keeping multiple devices operational so that we can update this journal, stay in touch with family, upload pictures, etc. And given how much time we're spending on coastal roads and beaches, spending the ferry time inside by the charging stations didn't feel like a big sacrifice.
It was interesting how different Saltspring Island felt from Galiano. Galiano seemed very much like cottage country -- everyone a tourist (except for the gallant staff in the bakery), everyone on holiday time. Saltspring, by contrast, felt much more permanently settled - so many more farms (and farm stands!), so many more businesses in town serving a resident population -- insurance offices, banks, vets, chiropractors. These aren't new observations, of course -- a quick look at population statistics for the islands would tell this story pretty quickly -- but it was new for us, since we've previously visited Gulf Islands singly, rather than sequentially, as on this trip. So it will be intriguing to see how they compare and contrast as we move through them.
Our ferry docked at Long Harbour, about mid-island, and we had about 25km to ride to get to our campsite at Ruckle Park, at the southern tip. A quick, mostly level ride from the ferry terminal to Ganges, the principal town, where we sat in the park for a bit. Then a stiff climb out of town, and an unpleasant discovery -- road work on the main island artery. So a long uphill push for me through the loose gravel shoulder, with traffic roaring past, before we found a turnoff onto a more peaceful secondary road. Then just the usual ups and downs, and UPS and DOWNS and UPS to get to Ruckle. Which is a lovely seaside provincial park, with an historic farmstead, and with campsites in an open meadow leading down to rock shelves and ledges bordering the ocean, where we set up our campchairs and watched the boats and ferries in the lovely golden evening light.
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Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 80 km (50 miles)
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