Day 8: Sidney to Home

October 19, 2021

Whereas all the other other motels we tried on this trip had simply abandoned their breakfast rooms and offerings in the face of Covid, the Sidney Waterfront Inn made an effort by supplying this box of breakfast goodies. This is not any worse than what motels in Canada offer in normal times, so it was good that they came up with it.

For the straight shot down to Victoria as shown on the track, we did not fly, it's just a GPS glitch!

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Despite the breakfast stuff that the motel supplied, our first stop was at the well known bakery on Beacon Ave. We knew the bakery opens at 8 and we arrived at 8:02 to find the door not yet open, and a line of people outside. Knowing that we had arranged to meet the Classens down in Victoria at 11:15, I decided that we had better pass on waiting for the bakery. So we told the next people in line "Good news, we're giving up". But "No, no", they replied, "You're going to miss the doughnuts, which are the best anywhere, and they'll be warm right now." " possibly World Class?" flashed in my mind, and ok, we rejoined the line. The man behind continued his line of argument: "The regular ones are great, but you should try the "feet"" The "feet", it turns out are foot shaped ones with chocolate coated toes. "The problem", the man went on, "is to decide whether to nibble the toes first, or to go at it the other way around".

So we got some regular doughnuts, some feet, and one croissant just for general research. I also noted the piles of Nanaimo Bars, which much more than croissants and maybe even doughnuts, are the signature product of this region. (But I find I choke on the coconut in them.)

A lineup almost sank our bakery research (only part of the line shows in the photo.)

Quite low priced croissants - maybe cheaper than France

Croissant testing - not flaky enough, not enough layers, say our experts.

A doughnut foot. Which way would you eat it? (recommend a napkin, at least!)

With doughnuts safely on board, we headed down the Saanich Peninsula on the 28 km of the Lochside Trail. The trail begins with a wide shoulder on a regular road, but varies from paved bike path to gravel bike path to quiet road with no bike markings. There is no part that is at all difficult or dangerous to ride.

Going down the Lochside there are a number of small interesting things to see. This includes the various types of housing, a large number of informational plaques about the trail and about the surrounding lands, billboards on the highway, and popular cyclist food stops at Mitchell Farm and Matticks Farm.

A rest and information stop, and McDonald's if you insist.

Part of the decoration at the rest stop.

We will head straight down the peninsula as shown on this trailside map.

A billboard on the highway beside the trail highlights the continuing struggle over logging on the Island.

The peninsula retains a lot of agriculture. Here a farmer inspects pumpkins to be picked up and crated.

This is a spot where giant pigs are often to be seen by the trailside. This little girl enjoyed watching the tractor. There is a for sale sign hanging just out of sight. Perhaps this landmark stop will disappear.

About mid way on the trail, someone has this collection of dwarves.

The giraffe oversees the dwarves, but clearly is having to take pandemic precautions.

We call this the "monkey puzzle" tree. It originates in South America, but is often seen in this south section of Vancouver Island, but not further north than this. (The white rectangular blur on the tree is a scratch on my lens that tells me I need a new camera.)

This is the most common stopping point for people on the trail. There is a tea garden, ice cream sales, and a grocery store here.

Getting down closer to Victoria there is a swamp/lake area and boardwalk for the bikes. This realistically posed statue represents an old farmer from the area.

We like seeing car free infrastructure like this!

One of many informational signs along the trail.

Finally reaching a busy street crossing, we have this piece of advanced equipment.

The Lochside ends at the "Switch Bridge" which crosses the Trans Canada Highway where it enters Victoria.

A few more kms and we reach the "Selkirk Trestle", a quite long and car free passage over the water.

Below the trestle, professional looking rowers proceed with some kind of coaching boat.

Once over the trestle we find a large emplacement concerned with The Great Trail. However this is not the start or end of it (we were at the end of it in Lake Cowichan - remember?) but just a convenient place to put this installation.

Our meet up with the Classens was planned for the "Fol Epi", one of the contenders (beside the Crust Bakery) for best French baking in Victoria. It worked perfectly, as Keith and Kathleen arrived within minutes of us.

Our discussion ranged from the "old favourite" Covid to upcoming cycling plans and cedrtainly everything cycling in between. The Classens, of course, are known for their super series of "Poking Around Europe"blogs.

Keith and Kathleen, with one doughnut "toe" from Sidney

Fluorescent yellow has been recognized by most cyclists as the best colour. So now almost all members of the club can be identified by yellow.

Anyone with a bicycle naturally has to acquire a baguette to strap on the side. These at Fol Epi are top quality but also top price.

I was shocked to see that tarts like the fairly common butter tart on the left, the apple tart, and the kuchen are all priced at $7 each. $7?

We bid goodbye for now to the Classens and zipped back over the trestle to Joni's place. From there we all walked to a nearby cafe. Here in Victoria where maybe there are more deciduous trees than further north, the Fall colours are really in evidence. Along the pavement are leaves of all colours:

At the cafe we locked up the bikes in a place where we could watch over them from inside. Showing our vaccine passports, we took seats in a sparsely occupied section. Although we were watching for any large sized bike thieves, we missed a smaller one - a crow that tried to make off with our expensive baguette:

This is a lovely area for Joni to live in - very close to her former condo on the other side of the trestle. This is the scene just beyond the cafe.

Now saying goodbye to Joni for now, we retraced our tracks back up the peninsula. Just beyond Mattick's Farm, who should we run into but Ken and Judy! Ken and Judy will not be known to most readers because they are not bloggers. But they are two of the most accomplished cycle tourers we know. They live in Kamloops, but we first encountered them in Wallace, Idaho, where I think it was one of those "Hey, the Grampies!" situations. We next encountered them in France, as we were returning from the Camino, and they were heading to it. Lately they passed by our house as they were touring around the Island. But today, they had come from Kamloops on family business, and were not actually looking for us on the Lochside.

Needless to say, we blocked up the path and had a good old chat. From pour point of view it looked like this:

And from their point of view it looked like this:

More and more yellow people, all over the trails!

Saying goodbye to Ken and Judy, for now, we cut across the peninsula toward the small ferry hop that would take us home. Pumpkins are much in evidence at all the farm markets. Soon we too will have our pumpkins out by the roadside.

Chainsaw carving is also in evidence. This is not anything for sale, but just stands in someone's yard.

Clearly we chatted with everyone for just the right amount of time today, because we arrived at the ferry with about 30 seconds to spare. Had we missed that one, we would have been cycling the rest of the way home in the dark. As it was, we landed on our side of the water with lots of light to look at the bay.

Clearly some people in our area are really into Halloween. This is mainly a North American thing, with people in the U.S. being most interested in it. But how about these guys in Mill Bay?!:

Before we could reach home, Dodie's odometer clicked over to 7000 km. So that's 7000 km on this bike since it came to the rescue of the totaled Bike Friday in Apeldoorn in 2018. Of the 7000 km, 5000 km is due only to circling around our house, wishing it was back in Europe!

Just before arriving home, one final road sign reminder about preserving one of the things that makes this place unique.

The house was freezing when we got in, and the cat was mad at us for having left. Otherwise, it was a great trip! Stay tuned tomorrow for a bit of a wrap up on whether it was actually World Class!

Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 418 km (260 miles)

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Ellen LeeI enjoy reading your journals and have followed all your previous trips. You 2 amaze me! I am so happy to read your journals as you show all the stuff that I like to eat and places you visit are fun. Even after accidents you just get up and go again, much like me, no pain, no gain! Biking is so enjoyable. And with electric assist, it is even more fun! I have had electric bikes since 2007 but on tour I only used my pedal bikes until now......let our old bodies go further!
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2 years ago

Keith ClassenThanks guys for getting in touch so we could meet up today! And for transporting that doughnut foot into town so we could have a taste of those toes … yumm! Great to catch up and chat about future touring plans. I think we are all anxious to get back on the road to explore new territory. Your local tour blog - ‘world class’ !
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2 years ago

Tricia GrahamTo Keith ClassenWe were so pleased to meet the pair of you at our place when you were in New Zealand. It all seems so long ago now locked in this hiatus of Covid but we have our fingers crossed
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2 years ago

Keith ClassenTo Tricia GrahamThanks Tricia! It was great that we were able to visit you and Ken in New Zealand. We hope some day to get back to New Zealand and maybe spend a couple months there allowing us to escape our dreary winter weather here. We are fortunate though that we can cycle year round here on the west coast (sometimes referred to as the “wet coast”). All the best!
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierWorld class or no, I had great fun reading about your trip. Looking forward to more intrepid Grampies adventures. (I would start with the toes, but what do I know?)
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2 years ago