October 13, 2021
Day 2: Lake Cowichan Village to Ladysmith
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Today's ride was glorious, and World Class in almost every respect. That is, unless you count last night. Last night, shortly after falling asleep, Dodie got severe leg cramps in both legs. To the extent she could move, she tried lying in various positions, but no help. The pain was extremely intense, worse than childbirth, she reports. Still, I advised her to try breathing exercises. What actually happened, though, was that she passed out. I'm glad to report it as that now, because at the time I was 90% sure she had had a stroke. Her head flung back, mouth wide open, and raspy breathing. I slapped her face and repeated "talk to me!", just to be sure, before dialling 911. Fortunately she came around before I had the phone out. She denies being slapped or remembering any part of this, except the pain.
At home we have some magnesium tablets that we got in Germany, when we similarly had leg cramp problems. But we never actually tried them. Does any of this ring a bell with anyone?
Once outside this morning, we found that with the clouds and rain cleared, the surrounding mountains really looked fresh and exciting. I like towns with mountains standing around - like Banff - where the mountsain seems to have been artistically placed at the end of the main street.
Across the street we noted a tribute to a famous local golfer. We care nothing for golf, but here is the photo in case any of you cycle touring fans are also into just walking around fairways.
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The other thing we immediately noticed was logging trucks going by. In principle, we do not object to the forest industry. In fact we soon passed a sign by a house reading "Forestry Feeds My Family". This indicates that foresters feel under pressure. We get it. But Lake Cowichan is around the corner from the Carmanah and Walbran valleys. These were the scenes of massive protests against old growth logging in 1993. At that time, almost 900 people were arrested, and we were members of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound, that organized the protests. We thought all that was fixed, with the establishment of a provincial park to protect the area. But right now, yes right now, the protesters are having to be back on the logging roads to protect the Fairy Creek area, which is one watershed down from Walbran.
On the other hand, if you look at this logging truck going by, you see it is loaded with small trees. You can see how they might prefer to get their teeth into some really fat ones. Perhaps not, though. This truck is certainly bound for the pulp mill at Crofton, and a load of logs makes the same pulp whether they are fat or thin. The big old trees are best used for lumber to export to Japan.
We set out in the lovely sun, away from Lake Cowichan, to follow the river toward the salt water. The trail was right by the motel, but thinking about the gravelly drag on the tires from yesterday, we chose instead to stay in the road. This is the old Lake Cowichan road, and not the newer Highway 18. The road was smooth and almost traffic free, and of course slightly downhill on average, as we were heading for the coast.
Yesterday I was a bit hard on the forest in this section, claiming that it lacked the "gravitas" of the old growth stands. While that may still be true, any forest has character and merit. So look here, is that not a great forest?
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About 15 km down, the trail diverges from the road, so we jumped to the trail. Although we disparaged the "Trans Canada Trail" earlier, this "Cowichan Valley Trail" portion is actually very well signed and managed. Importantly, the surface here was fine, World Class in fact. (Actually we might rather call that Tricia Graham class. She has written that hard pack with very fine gravel is actually her favourite cycling surface.) Moreover, the trail was passing through beautiful forest, and with the sun out this was really superb. We cancelled some of our earlier thoughts and began talking about how it would be easy to bring some grandchildren on this route.
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Seemingly all too soon we passed by Paldi. In case you can't read it, the photo shows the Paldi Sikh Temple. The Island has been the recipient of much immigration from Punjab, and the Sikh people are well integrated into the society. They have played a big role in the forest industry, and have owned some of the largest companies. They are also responsible for me often calling the forest the "jungle" as I have heard them do.
One time I visited the Paldi temple, and enjoyed the free vegetarian food that they share with any and all comers. It's a great idea. We should check out the Golden Temple in Amritsar when we get a chance!
Back to the "jungle", it continued to offer World Class scenes, like this one:
Despite the wonderful trail, we did hop over for a peek at Highway 18. It does have a shoulder, but really isn't that pleasant. See here:
It was not just us that were enjoying the excellent trail. We actually passed a fair number of cyclists, and near trail heads there was a variety of users.
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Joni had sent us an email describing her experience with buying a fern from Facebook marketplace. It turned out to be giant, too big for her apartment and resistant to being hacked into sections. This all came to mind as we passed glens full of ferns, and specimens like the one below:
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http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/ShowDBImage/gallery.aspx?page=0&specrep=0&latinName=Struthiopteris%20spicant
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We are not really concerned about the weight of our bikes and packs. Still we cast a wary eye at the warning before the bridge over Bings Creek.
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As we grew closer to the coast and the towns, there began to be more if interest than just forest and trail. For example, this "aggressive" alpaca. He actually seemed quite cute to us.
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The trail continued very well marked and maintained as it began to wind through the northern reaches of Duncan, actually the municipality known as North Cowichan. We returned to and crossed the Trans Canada Highway, waiting at the light with a logging truck, where again we noted small logs and the truck heading for the pulp mill.
On the other side of the Trans Canada, the road began to undulate quite a bit, while the surroundings featured less forest and more interesting houses and farms and various forms of human activity. For example we were able to buy apples from a roadside stand. The Grampies, with so many trees at home, find buying apples a bit strange. But these were really good.
We continued to pass over unused rail line, so much so that we are not sure if this was the E&N or some other kind of lines. In all cases it looks like a waste of opportunity either to rebuild rail service or to create multi use trail.
The bike route, though, carried on even if it was often on road, and it remained excellently marked.
One common human activity is the removal of trees that have become dangerous for being too near houses. In winter storms it is common for trees to come down. We heat our house entirely with wood from fallen tree on our land.
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The indigenous communities are much in evidence on the Island, with quite a few independent bands. The Cowichan Band is very prominent, as we might expect, with the whole place being named after them. In the sign below, we see the Stz'uminus nation, whose name we presume lies behind the town of Chemainus, which we are approaching.
We really don't know why, except for generalized poverty, that homes on reserves are often so messy. It doesn't seem consistent with being guardians of the land. Even poor people could pick up and arrange their stuff. Does anyone have experience and an explanation?
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We thought we were passing by a classic example of homestead farming, as we came to a large field with all manner of animals in it, including unique spotted pigs. But it turned out to be an animal rescue operation.
Now definitely back at the coast, we entered the town of Chemainus. Chemainus became famous when its sawmill shut down, in 1983. Rather than turn into a ghost town, it reinvented itself for tourism, by painting murals depicting its history, on the sides of buildings throughout the town. The magic, we suppose, was not just murals on buildings but the fact that the murals depicted a history that had real worth and interest. Today we read that there are 47 murals. Also, as we soon saw, the town's shops and buildings are interesting of themselves. And as we spoke with several people on the streets we found the population to be pleasant and interesting as well.
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Chemainus boosted its approval rating by having a bakery. Inside I found the usual assortment of Nanaimo Bars. But rather than go for an authentic local choice, I selected the poppyseed pastry. Do I think I am in Germany? Actually they had apple strudel as well, and it looked good. In the street, Dodie said she was sending me in on my own. This is dangerous if I have a debit card! I expressed surprise, and a passing lady said she was going in too, so I wouldn't be entirely on my own.
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We spoke to another lady in the street and asked about a good place to get a sandwich. She recommended Soul's. The man in Soul's was Korean, and he explained that this is Korean street food. It featured white bread toast and shredded cabbage with in our case a ham slice and a spicy sauce. We liked it a lot, and the man was very sweet!
Soul's had one table outside, and we much appreciated using it. No sooner had we stood up than the man appeared, armed with sanitiser. We appreciated his diligence. We noticed around the town other signs of taking Covid seriously:
It is only a short hop from Chemainus to Ladysmith, our goal for the day. Again the trail was well marked, as it mostly paralleled the defunct rail line. I guess if the rail line is providing space where the trail is placed, there is no need to complain that the rails are still there.
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We arrived easily at Ladysmith and first stopped at as supermarket where Dodie found some take out chicken. That supermarket holds some nostalgia, as we remember stopping there in 1969, as part of a cross Canada jaunt in our brand new VW bug. 52 years ago seems like yesterday. Things are perhaps more vivid when you are young and almost just married. For example, I have little clue what I did for supermarkets just 32 years ago!
We climbed to Ladysmith's main street, most distinguished as the site of Old Town Bakery. We were introduced to this by the Price's, who stopped there several times when coming to visit us and talk cycling. What better way to visit the Grampies than with gooey cinnamon buns!
Old Town was closed, because it was just after 4. But we'll be back in the morning. Meanwhile their window had a thought provoking poster:
The motel in Ladysmith had at least one World, or maybe just French, feature - no one at reception. Also a phone at the front for calling management did not work. Our cell phone did get a response, and after a time a man did come along. However he got the already way too high price of $165 wrong, by adding the tax twice, and Dodie had to put him straight.
The room was small by Canadian standards, though big enough by European standards. It had space for our bikes, which is the main thing, and after ripping out the cords for TV, micro, fridge, and lamps, enough outlets for our electrical gadgets.
Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 111 km (69 miles)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 15 |
2 years ago
2 years ago
I still wake up with cramps occasionally, especially if I didn’t drink enough water. They are excruciating and I totally empathize with Dodie!! Hope you find something that works
2 years ago
2 years ago
Leg cramps are no joke. I take magnesium supplements and that has helped a lot, but you have to stick with it for a while before the cramps stop all together. Even with the supplements my blood magnesium is a tad on the low side, and my doc assures me it would be well nigh impossible to overdose. Dodie should tell my wife Sue how much they hurt. Sue claims that nothing hurts worse than childbirth !
In my estimation you picked the right season to tour Vancouver Island: no bugs! I looked up the railway. The politicians are still wangling about it, but the cost of repairing it to a usable state is far higher than any transportation benefit. So, yeah, it needs to be converted to a trail.
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago
Magnesium and potassium suppliments are said to be good.
One bloke that I ride with swears by eating bananas which contain potassium.
The advice about stretching the affected muscles is good.
Sometimes I have had to get out of bed and walk around.
Mike
2 years ago
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https://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/muscle-cramps-prevention-and-treatment.html?fbclid=IwAR0JVjWust8_-7sWnwFPucKXWGUHQMbHte-8Md9JPafuKFAdhXLAo2035cI
2 years ago
Ok, on reflection I see the problem. The article distinguishes firmly between cramps during exercise and night time cramps. But active cyclists get the cramps at night time, just after exercise. I think that puts dehydration and electrolytes back in the picture.
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