July 4, 2017
Day 1 Rathtrevor Beach to Living Forest, Nanaimo: And Here We Go!
We actually rode down from our daughter Emily's house in Parksville to our campsite at Rathtrevor Park, but that was only 8 km, so we counted that as our official "try out the bikes loaded to see if we can ride" day. We had a lovely time camping with the grandkids and a wonderful bon voyage party with more kids and grandkids before heading out this morning for our first leg - Parksville to Nanaimo.
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After breakfast at the campsite we were off! With our official "beginning of the tour" pic
Funnily enough (?) the most difficult hill of the day was the one leaving Rathtrevor! A granny grinder for sure!!! Once we made it out onto the road, it was smooth sailing - the hills were not too bad, but the traffic - oh my! We stopped to take a breather and Jim got this shot of what we were riding with for a good part of the morning.
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Thankfully we made it into Nanaimo without any mishaps and made our way to the nearest Starbucks to refresh and catch some free wifi.
After a refreshing break we headed down to the E&N rail trail that runs down to the centre of Nanaimo. After slogging through the morning, it was amazing to hop on this trail, particularly as we were going on the downhill, meaning we didn't peddle at all for about 8 km! Bliss!
We finished day one by checking into Living Forest Campsite just south of Nanaimo. We have stayed here many times in the past and have booked our campsite for 2 nights as we are in no particular hurry now and want to enjoy this beautiful place. Tomorrow will be for sleeping in, going for a nice long walk and possibly renting kayaks for a little trip up the Chase River. This retirement gig is looking better every day!!!
Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 41 km (25 miles)
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