July 7, 2017
Day 4 Duncan to Sanich: Getting used to hills, I guess
We had decided the night before to get up early and head into Duncan to eat breakfast at a restaurant recommended to us by John at Riverside Campground. Without having to set up the stove and cook, we were packed up and ready to head out in 20 minutes! That’s a new one for us!
We headed into Duncan and came to the Doghouse Restaurant. There was an enclosed patio that would have been perfect to put the bikes in while we ate, but the woman we spoke with said it was locked and they didn’t have a key until later in the morning. Sad at the thought of missing out on our lovely sit down breakfast, we started to peddle away. However, our Doghouse angel came out the back door and called to us, saying that if we needed to put the bikes away, we could store them in a little back room while we ate! Such kindness! We quickly stored the bikes and ordered our breakfast, enjoying the opportunity. Thanks so much, Doghouse Restaurant!
Leaving Duncan, we headed out on Highway 1 for the first part of the day. Although this is not the nicest way to get out of Duncan, it was the least hilly option and after yesterday’s adventures with hills, we were hoping to cut out a few. Once at the top of the hill, we turned onto Koksilah and then Telegraph Road, which led us along into some truly stunning countryside.
We rode past a sign for Cherry Point, bringing back fond memories of Annie’s wedding to Matt last summer.
Telegraph Road led down to a short short return to the Trans Canada Hwy before turning off for the Mill Bay ferry. We stopped to pick up tickets for the ferry and also a quick iced coffee and scone at our favourite Mill Bay coffee shop, Bru-go's.
From the coffee shop it was a quick but scenic 5 km over to the ferry which would take us to Brentwood Bay. On the ferry, which is only about 20 minutes, we had a chance to chat with some fellow cyclists. Christine and Ken were on their way to Victoria and then home to Vancouver. It was fun to talk about our plans and share our love for our new lifestyle with others.
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One of my highlights was when talking to a much younger cyclist, also on her way to Victoria, who commented “you have great legs, you’ll have no trouble with hills”! Here’s hoping I keep getting better!
Speaking of hills, the one coming off the ferry is long, long, long. I remembered it from our last trip this way and told Jim I would most likely walk this one. To my surprise, I managed to ride the whole way up (with a few stops for water, of course)!
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Once we tackled the hill up from the ferry, it was a few more hills to tackle before arriving at our destination for this day, our friends Bill and Carolyn. They moved to Vancouver Island a couple of years ago and are loving where they live in Sanich. Although I was wishing before we arrived that they didn’t live right at the top of the ridge, the views from their deck quickly wiped away my complaints. After a lovely long shower, we joined our friends to catch up on life since the last time we saw them. Later in the evening, we were joined by more friends from the Island for a lovely send-off dinner. Thank you so much, Carolyn and Bill, for arranging this! It was a wonderful way to spend our last night in Canada for a while.
Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 82 km (51 miles)
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