I spent a couple days meandering my way north via Seattle and Deception Pass State Park before heading to Vancouver City. I spent a day putting my gear together and had a restless night stealth camping in the car on the waterfront due to some very loud drunken college students that decided to bring the party to my neck of the woods. I got a bit of late start because I was feeling under the weather, probably some cooties I caught from my friend's kid in Seattle.
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| The only cloudy day I had on my bike tour! |
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| After crossing from Vancouver City to Richmond, I was greeted by this lovely cycling map, which provided a better intel than both Google Maps and Maps.ME. |
The route itself was relatively uninspiring as it wound through industrial areas and flat farmland, but I was impressed I could connect the entire route with bikeways and bike lanes. Richmond was interesting because it was home to a large Chinatown as well as a robust Muslim community. A local bike commuter chatted with me at a stop light and he regaled me with stories of getting lost on a bike tour on Salt Spring Island. When I arrived at the ferry terminal, I was allowed to zoom to the front of the line and board first! I was joined by another bike tourist, a gal from Ottawa who was on her first big bike tour and it was her first day. We spent the ferry ride chatting about bike touring and her excitement was contagious.
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| Waiting area for the ferry. |
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| Bike touring buddy! |
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| Weaving through islands on the ferry. |
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| Bikes are also first off the boat! It was unreal to stand right at the edge and watch the ferry doors open as we approached. |
After a bit of confusion getting out of the ferry terminal area, I found the
Lochside trail which provides a lovely nearly car-free route to Victoria from Swartz Bay. My mother is originally from Canada and spent some of her early years in Victoria and we would go back every so often to visit my Granddad and some of my mother's cousins there. While my Grandad is long gone, I was able to connect to my mother's cousin Hamar, his wife Kathy, and their daughter Rachel. I hadn't seen Hamar since I was 6 years old, but he welcomed me into his home with open arms. Turns out Hamar rode his bicycle across Canada in the mid-1970s and wouldn't you know it, he's also a law professor.
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| Beautiful gravel roads on the Lochside trail... Canadians really are nice. A bike commuter offered to take my photo as she saw me taking a bici-glamour shot. |
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| Cute honor system farm stands dot the trail as well! |
Hamar and Kathy were amazing hosts. After a hot shower, we settled in with wine and appetizers to catch up and then feasted on local salmon, a quinoa and cauliflower casserole, salad, sorbet with fresh fruit, and mint tea with cookies.
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| Luxury on a bike tour! |
A few tips for cycle tourists:
- Make sure to check the ferry schedule as it changes seasonally. There are limits for both vehicles and walk on customers for each ferry. Cyclists are consider "walk on" but there are also a limited number of bike racks, so get there at least 20-30 minutes early if you can. The ferry ride itself takes about 1.5 hours.
- I wish I had grabbed a cycling map of Vancouver City to identify the best route to the ferry. Neither Google Maps nor Maps.ME did a great job of providing the best routes.
- The Lochside trail is pretty easy to find and is well signed once you actually on it, but it was nice having a printed map. It connects you to downtown Victoria and the Galloping Goose trail which heads west out of Victoria.
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