July 2, 2019
Day 3: Ganges to Cobble Hill
The Wisteria breakfast today followed the same pattern as yesterday. That is, course one is a small sweet thing with fruit- in this case some baked rice pudding and one raspberry. Then course two is an egg preparation with a potato something, and some salad. It is all very elegant and well presented, but not enough to cycle on. Ha ha, this time we had a lemon muffin from the Francis Bakery in reserve. It was actually a while before we had to use it, and we even cycled right by the EmBe bakery without blinking. Maybe we are getting used to this island diet!
We started out in a light shower, but that quickly turned to a light rain. It was cool too, and we needed to add long sleeved merino under our rain jackets. With this arranged, we set off up the long hill at the Fulford end of town. People at the breakfast table had warned us that even in their cars they had noticed this hill as particularly long and steep. What we noticed was that although traffic on the island had felt generally calm, the volume along the Vesuvius/Ganges/Fulford line was vexing. So part way up we cut out onto a route labelled as being quieter. This was the way mentioned in the Comments yesterday by the Classens, as involving lots more climbing. But many cars swooshing by in the wet drove us to it. And without having a comparison to the main road climb, we just went up and down whatever we came to without feeling hard done by.
The south part of the island, at least the way we went, was less zippy than what we had seen in the north. That is, there were fewer water views, fewer dream houses, and maybe even fewer arbutus trees. But we did get an undulating road through forest, and as promised, few cars.
Before too long we were rolling down to the little enclave that comprises the Fulford Harbour ferry dock. Clustered about are perhaps four restaurant/bakery/ general store type businesses. Each is projecting the well known Saltspring island wholesome/organic ethos. The one we liked best was called the Morningside organic bakery, and it definitely looked "organic". Unfortunately, it was also closed. The next store over was open, and also interesting. Here could be found baked goods from Barb's Buns, the bakery we had not tried out in Ganges. We looked, but with prices like $4 for a small cinnamon bun, did not "bite". We had the same reaction for locally made $6.50 each chocolate bars, but with cute names, like the "One Sailing Wait", and the "Wet Coast".
Among the vehicles piling off the M.V. Skeena Queen was a bicycle laden van from Backroads Travel, filled with eager adventurers. It felt good to see that this premium tour group agreed with us that Saltspring is worth a spin.
From the ferry, the misty shore of the Fulford Harbour inlet sweeping by was evocative. Only thing, it was evocative of Autumn, and we spent the voyage with the other travellers, huddled in "Lounge 3".
The ferry pulled in to Swartz Bay, where the proper "big" Vancouver ferries live, and we were mildly surprised to see the cars lined up back beyond the ticket booths, with at least a "One Sailing Wait" to get to the mainland.
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We paused for a moment to consider going down the Lochside Trail, on what for us would be the "wrong" side of the Saanich Peninsula, but in the end stuck to our plan of using Wain Road and West Saanich Road. We were pleasantly surprised to see that Wain Road had a marked bike lane , as did the north part of West Saanich Road. The whole Victoria area has been making strides in becoming bike friendly, and this is something we much appreciate.
The northwest corner of Saanich is home to several first nations groups. Seeing their tribal names on signs seemed much in harmony with looking out at the water, the mist, and the flats left bare by low tide.
At Brentwood, we zoomed briefly down to the ferry dock for the short hop across to our home Cowichan region. Short hop or not, BC Ferries managed to be running the service 30 minutes late. No matter, we enjoyed chatting with the owner of a very fancy Harley Davidson, which he had parked in the middle of the bicycle waiting area. He was proud to show us his heated seats and handlebars, and the fact that he could receive Sirius satellite radio.
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Back on our own shore, we were still looking at things with a tourist's eye. And along Malahat Beach, we had to admit that had we been cyclists from afar we would surely think this was a great place. To get to our house, though, there is a stretch where there is no alternative but to take the Trans Canada Highway. With the cars and trucks roaring by, it was "good to be home", at least in the sense that we could now clearly remember why we had set off north to Saltspring in the first place!
Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 128 km (79 miles)
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4 years ago
4 years ago
Looks like you had a good trip. I hope you made it to Barb’s Buns -great food and soup and baking! I sent you a message a few days ago but I just saw that it was returned. Sorry.
You are indeed travelling “in our backyard”. A lovely way to think of our travels as I often think the same. Barry lived briefly at the Wisteria in a cabin while we were waiting for our Galiano home to sell, you stayed a short walk from where we live, and you did one of our favourite rides: “The Sunset Loop” of the north end. Barry taught at Fernwood School for many years so we do a lot of riding at the north end. Also, my sister lives at Cowichan Bay and we know that #%!& hill up from Cow Bay to her house.
It was fun to read your impressions and experiences of familiar haunts. And by the way, we love the Montreal beef cafe in Gasoline Alley....always good. I so wished that I had noticed that our earlier email didn’t go through -it somehow ended up in my spam file.
Anyway, here we are in Dresden and I am sick with a chest cold. We fly home in a bit over a week. Yikes!
4 years ago