The Big Picture
More detail if you desire.
August 29 - Friday - We stopped at this store in Parksville for some supplemental breakfast only to be greeted by this tank full of live crabs and lobsters. Several seemed intent on escaping. There was something amusing about seeing this first thing in the morning.
It was a cool and calm morning with moderate terrain. We entered Nanaimo about 10:00. This sign left us with no doubt about our location.
More detail if you desire.
August 29 - Friday - We stopped at this store in Parksville for some supplemental breakfast only to be greeted by this tank full of live crabs and lobsters. Several seemed intent on escaping. There was something amusing about seeing this first thing in the morning.
It was a cool and calm morning with moderate terrain. We entered Nanaimo about 10:00. This sign left us with no doubt about our location.Many things touched our funny bone today and this "Sushi Eh" sign tickled Doug's as we navigated our way towards downtown.
Fortunately they have a very nice bike trail that covered most of the route through town. The E&N is also the name of the train that runs up the coast from Victoria and parallels a part of the bike trail. It's whistle was our sound of the day.
This 81 years young man, Don, ran into us just after we joined the trail. He offered to guide us downtown since he lives there and needed to get home anyway so he wouldn't be late for his afternoon golf date. We really enjoyed his company but had to part ways just a few blocks from his condo when Doug's rear tire went flat.
This mural commemorates the sinking of this 366 foot destroyer escort in 1997 to become an artificial reef just east of Nanaimo.
We made it to the harbor in time for lunch then went looking for the museum that was listed in the tourist info. After a couple of circles around and climbing to the top of a small hill we found it. Except that it had moved..........to a location we had probably passed twice during our search!
At least there was a good view of the harbor from the top of the hill.
Jordan was quite helpful and let us stow our bike luggage behind the desk while we visited the very brand new museum. That was very comforting since a couple of locals told us that it might disappear if we left it outside.
Bathtub Race - a local tradition
Some local "celebrities" whose product, logging equipment, we just happen to have seen in action. Jazz singer, Diana Krall, is also a native of the area.
A local First Nation's history exhibit.
This carving was hung in the lobby. Ironically, we had just watched the First Nation's carver working on this exact piece during a TV program the night before.
Forest products is big part of the economy of the area.
Nanaimo was not kind to Doug's tires. The sidewall was split and Doug had to use our folding tire which didn't want to stay seated. It took an hour which is definitely longer than our usual 15 minute quick fix. Fortunately the shoulder was extremely wide at this spot where the bike trail joined the highway.
It was a good thing we had decided ahead of time to stop in Ladysmith for the evening since we didn't get there until 5:00 and the motel only had 2 rooms left. We took the kitchette room complete with pink stove and really funky table and chairs. Quaint and quite clean.
Pizza was on order. It was actually a take out place but they let us use this little table on the front porch to eat since we had walked several blocks to get there.
After dinner we took in the outdoor museum (Heritage Artifact Route)
This little guy insisted that we take his picture......
His sister didn't want to be left out of the action either.
Just in case you were wondering about our latitude........It made a fine stop for stocking up on Powerade for the next day. It actually stayed dry all day today despite the forecast.......a quite pleasant surprise indeed.
August 30 - Saturday - The motel provided a food voucher to this very nice coffee shop across the street called "In the Bean Time"......good food, good coffee, and good service. Then we were off into the bright cool morning.
We took Road 1A to keep us off Highway 1. It was being reconstructed but we decided it was worth going slow on the dirt which turned out to be well packed the whole way. Didn't have much traffic either.
Our "off-highway" route took us along the bay for awhile. We are always impressed with the madrone trees that they grow up here.
This little town is full of art and was quite the popular place on a late summer Saturday morning.
This elaborate water feature/sculpture documents a locally famous snipe hunt.
From here we headed toward Duncan. We should have known better than to follow a road that looked very straight on the map. It went straight up hill and down dale. After a couple of those we opted for the highway and its more moderate grade to get us to Duncan. We were there a few years ago (2005) so didn't take any pictures of it this trip. We can give a good report though, on Coffee Moon and their beverages and fruit bars which made a nice little breakfast #2.
We stopped in Cowichan Bay for lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe. It was probably the best clam chowder in a bread bowl that we've ever had, so good it deserved a picture! It was so filling that we couldn't eat it all. It also made the legs feel like lead when we had to climb the 10% grade to get out of town!
We planned on catching the 1:50 ferry in Mill Bay and thought we would make it with about 20 minutes to spare. Then we discovered that the ferry terminal was 3 miles from the intersection that we were using to calculate our time. Fortunately it was mostly flat (except for that darn little hill at the end!!) so we put the pedal to the metal arriving just as the cars were unloading off the arriving ferry. Whew!
This ferry is quite small compared to the others we've used this trip.
This gentleman spent the 30 minute trip across sketching the ferry.
The area between Brentwood Bay (the ferry terminal) and Victoria is quite lovely, rural and agricultural. We followed the bike route along Wallace Drive and then the Interurban Rail Trail most of the way down the Saanich Peninsula. We also heard our sound of the day as jets taking off from Victoria Airport passed overhead in big contrast to the otherwise very quiet countryside.
Our home for the evening....Fort Victoria RV Park. We have stayed here on previous trips as it makes a stay in Victoria a little easier on the pocketbook. And we love visiting Victoria.
Fortunately they have a very nice bike trail that covered most of the route through town. The E&N is also the name of the train that runs up the coast from Victoria and parallels a part of the bike trail. It's whistle was our sound of the day.
This 81 years young man, Don, ran into us just after we joined the trail. He offered to guide us downtown since he lives there and needed to get home anyway so he wouldn't be late for his afternoon golf date. We really enjoyed his company but had to part ways just a few blocks from his condo when Doug's rear tire went flat.
This mural commemorates the sinking of this 366 foot destroyer escort in 1997 to become an artificial reef just east of Nanaimo.We made it to the harbor in time for lunch then went looking for the museum that was listed in the tourist info. After a couple of circles around and climbing to the top of a small hill we found it. Except that it had moved..........to a location we had probably passed twice during our search! At least there was a good view of the harbor from the top of the hill.
Jordan was quite helpful and let us stow our bike luggage behind the desk while we visited the very brand new museum. That was very comforting since a couple of locals told us that it might disappear if we left it outside. 
Bathtub Race - a local tradition
Some local "celebrities" whose product, logging equipment, we just happen to have seen in action. Jazz singer, Diana Krall, is also a native of the area.
A local First Nation's history exhibit.
This carving was hung in the lobby. Ironically, we had just watched the First Nation's carver working on this exact piece during a TV program the night before.
Forest products is big part of the economy of the area. Also note the ferry on the horizon.
Nanaimo was not kind to Doug's tires. The sidewall was split and Doug had to use our folding tire which didn't want to stay seated. It took an hour which is definitely longer than our usual 15 minute quick fix. Fortunately the shoulder was extremely wide at this spot where the bike trail joined the highway.
It was a good thing we had decided ahead of time to stop in Ladysmith for the evening since we didn't get there until 5:00 and the motel only had 2 rooms left. We took the kitchette room complete with pink stove and really funky table and chairs. Quaint and quite clean.
Pizza was on order. It was actually a take out place but they let us use this little table on the front porch to eat since we had walked several blocks to get there.
After dinner we took in the outdoor museum (Heritage Artifact Route)that is all along the main street.
This little guy insisted that we take his picture......and it had to be done while he was on top of the hydrant.
His sister didn't want to be left out of the action either.
Just in case you were wondering about our latitude........It made a fine stop for stocking up on Powerade for the next day. It actually stayed dry all day today despite the forecast.......a quite pleasant surprise indeed.
August 30 - Saturday - The motel provided a food voucher to this very nice coffee shop across the street called "In the Bean Time"......good food, good coffee, and good service. Then we were off into the bright cool morning.We took Road 1A to keep us off Highway 1. It was being reconstructed but we decided it was worth going slow on the dirt which turned out to be well packed the whole way. Didn't have much traffic either.We would have missed this roadside art if we had taken the highway!
Our "off-highway" route took us along the bay for awhile. We are always impressed with the madrone trees that they grow up here. This little town is full of art and was quite the popular place on a late summer Saturday morning.
This elaborate water feature/sculpture documents a locally famous snipe hunt.
From here we headed toward Duncan. We should have known better than to follow a road that looked very straight on the map. It went straight up hill and down dale. After a couple of those we opted for the highway and its more moderate grade to get us to Duncan. We were there a few years ago (2005) so didn't take any pictures of it this trip. We can give a good report though, on Coffee Moon and their beverages and fruit bars which made a nice little breakfast #2.
We stopped in Cowichan Bay for lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe. It was probably the best clam chowder in a bread bowl that we've ever had, so good it deserved a picture! It was so filling that we couldn't eat it all. It also made the legs feel like lead when we had to climb the 10% grade to get out of town! We planned on catching the 1:50 ferry in Mill Bay and thought we would make it with about 20 minutes to spare. Then we discovered that the ferry terminal was 3 miles from the intersection that we were using to calculate our time. Fortunately it was mostly flat (except for that darn little hill at the end!!) so we put the pedal to the metal arriving just as the cars were unloading off the arriving ferry. Whew! This ferry is quite small compared to the others we've used this trip. Donna is about midship checking out the map.
This gentleman spent the 30 minute trip across sketching the ferry.
The area between Brentwood Bay (the ferry terminal) and Victoria is quite lovely, rural and agricultural. We followed the bike route along Wallace Drive and then the Interurban Rail Trail most of the way down the Saanich Peninsula. We also heard our sound of the day as jets taking off from Victoria Airport passed overhead in big contrast to the otherwise very quiet countryside. Our home for the evening....Fort Victoria RV Park. We have stayed here on previous trips as it makes a stay in Victoria a little easier on the pocketbook. And we love visiting Victoria.Doug and Doug were chatting when Donna returned from the shower. He and his wife are from Williams Lake, BC. He is a retired elementary school principal who happens to like photography and forestry so they had a lot to chat about. A little later a family from Germany pulled in next to us. Teenage son Jonah came over to visit. They had been on the road for a month touring all over British Columbia and were headed back home in a couple of days.
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