July 31, 2025
Day 9- Tribune Bay, Hornby Island to Miracle Beach
Tom here.
Today it was back to the road for us, after a solid day and a half roasting on the beach.
Hornby was for sure the most holiday-ish island we’ve visited so far. Tribune Bay is a glorious sandy beach, and with good weather it is a slice of Hawaii in BC. It did seem the most touristy and less locally flavoured island so far. We were a little surprised at the lack of a decent restaurant in the little central commerce area (there was one, but was closed by 4 pm when we were there — plans for a late afternoon beer and respite from the sun were thwarted. Also an important detail: the cold beer and wine store in the basement of the Co-op closes at 5 — plan accordingly. ) The campground was transitioning from private to BC Parks, and was pretty cheek by jowl, and the beach was jam packed with holiday goers. Quite a scene, but a much different vibe than everywhere else we’ve been.
Today our goal was Miracle Beach on the big island, which meant 2 ferries; Hornby to Denman, Denman to Buckley Bay, retracing our steps.
We were up early, and as always when we get on the road early we remark that riding in the early morning is super nice. The air is cool, roads are calm, and everything feels fresh.
We got lucky with our timing for both ferries — arriving for the Denman ferry as it was unloading, and sneaking in as the last passengers loaded on the Buckley Bay ferry. On the Denman ferry we observed a forest fire, thankfully not in the direction we were going.
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We were back on Vancouver Island by 10:30 with 50 km to go, so the day was well in hand. We were back on the Island Highway, and clicked through the km at a decent pace.
We paused briefly in Royston, on the outskirts of Courtenay, and read about the breakwater created by breaking retired ships, some with lengthy and illustrious histories.
The Garmin then tried to call in an audible and rerouted us inland, but we declined what seemed like a hot and hilly detour. Courtenay / Comox were a traffic clogged nightmare. We spent a few minutes on a fruitless quest for camping gas, which at least got us into some air conditioning briefly.
After the slog through Comox — where we were far faster than the car traffic — the Garmin once again suggested something off the highway, which we accepted. The route was a pleasant ride through the countryside. It was however early afternoon, the shade was gone, the temperature up, and the road while lovely, was a consistent slight climb over 10 km or so. Scenic, but a sweat bath.
We got to Miracle Beach by a little after 2, in good shape but sweaty. Checking in at the camp office, the BC Parks dude made a point of pointing out where the brand new shower blocks were. Clearly we looked like we felt.
We set up camp, and had absolutely glorious showers in the fancy new showers, and rinsed off days of grime, salt water and sunscreen, and returned to the ranks of washed humanity.
Once restored, we gathered our accoutrements and set up on the beach for our afternoon nap and evening meal.
Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles)
Total: 363 km (225 miles)
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