July 27, 2025
Day 5 - Gabriola to Deep Bay
Marilee here.
We were lucky with the ferry this morning, rolling down the hill from the campground bright and early to find it waiting for us. We knew we had a full day of riding ahead so we didn't waste any time in Nanaimo, just headed for the highway out of town. One of things we're testing on this shakeout tour is a Garmin -- and it proved its worth this morning, leading us on a network of bike paths that helped keep us off the multi-lane island highway as long as possible.
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We eventually had to grit our teeth through some highway miles, but as it was a weekend at least there was minimal heavy truck traffic -- thankfully, no logging trucks thundering up behind us. Nanaimo has a truly staggering number of mini-malls, a repeating pattern of franchise businesses that stretch for miles and miles. I lost count of the number of Tim Hortons, Mid-Island Liquor Stores, and Anytime Fitness centres that we passed. And that's not to mention the Ricky's All-Day Grills, Thrifty Foods, Canadian Tires... well, it gave us something to look at.
And before we knew it we were in Parksville, home to the most awesome ocean-side playground ever! We remember it fondly from when our kids were young and we used to camp at Rathtrevor Provincial Park just outside town. And today there was also an art market in the park nearby, so the place was bustling. After a certain length of time just lying flat on my back with eyes closed (um, composing my thoughts), I was able to sit up and eat a hamburger that Tom had thoughtfully brought me and observe the commotion -- mainly, kids having meltdowns when required by their unfeeling parents to leave the park far, far too soon.
From Parksville, more Garmin magic led us to a cycling path above the highway that took us on a tour of wide, eerily empty suburban streets lined with bungalows with sun-blasted lawns, before plunging us into forest paths where we were very grateful for the shade. Very few other cyclists, and almost no cars -- it was a peaceful (spooky?) hour or so, before we rejoined the highway near Qualicum Beach, the next resort town up the coast.
And then we were full into the sun-baked heat of the afternoon, knowing that we had about 30km left in the day and feeling very, very eager to get it done. We put our heads down and pedalled. And pedalled. It was highway, so the hills were gradual, but the shoulder was tempermental - sometimes it felt generous and provided lots of space between us and the parade of 4-by-4's, RVs and motorcycles gunning up the road, but every once in a while it got shy and disappeared -- mostly on curves, and always unpredictably. So that added some spice to the proceedings. Until, eventually, we reached Bowser, for a quick break before making the last push to Deep Bay and our campsite for the night.
We made it! On to Denman Island tomorrow.
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Oh, and I should mention: showers, laundry, a pub with a patio -- all the amenities!
Today's ride: 82 km (51 miles)
Total: 245 km (152 miles)
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