October 27, 2019
Day 8: Galiano to Swartz Bay to Home
The fact that by chance our room was 200 meters from the ferry stood us in good stead, as 100 meters out Dodie had a flat. She limped into the terminal. Of course we still had lots of time, but not enough time for a tire repair. A tire repair of course involves taking off all the bags, and in Dodie's case there is a mirror, a GPS mount, and maybe brake levers to fool with before flipping the bike on its back. I opted instead for my usual tle mode - denial. In this case that meant pumping the tire back up and hoping that the flat was actually imaginary, or in some other way, a fluke.
I connected to the Presta valve and pumped away. The tire seemed to be holding the pressure, so I put the cap back on and reported "It seems to be holding, but I haven't necessarily put it at the recommended pressure." "Well then, pump it all the way", was the seemingly reasonable response. So I casually unscrewed the cap, and whoosh, the valve fell into my hand and all the air rushed out.
I have unscrewed lots of Schrader valve cores, using the little tool made for the purpose, but I have no experience with a Presta. It can not be complicated, but I was hampered because, eh, it was still dark! I assumed the cap had become stuck on the valve thread, and so had acted as a tool to unscrew the valve itself. So, I would just have to screw the valve back in a go again. Right?
I screwed the valve in, even cleverly using the cap as a tool to spin it in. The only thing, the valve did not spin to a tight stop, as things that spin in are wont to do. Instead it just kept spinning. Stripped? Now with the ferry getting ready to go, and still unable to really see, I just pumped again. It held, but would it soon just pop out? A sudden total loss of pressure out on the road could be quite hazardous, but I didn't want to worry Dodie with such trivia. Oh, oh, I am writing this as we are still at a restaurant in Saanich. Which means she will shortly read it while we still need to be out on the road. Bummer!
Before the ferry left, we got enough light for some nice shots of sunrise by the Island. Then we were off, into ...Active Pass! The Queen of Cumberland took us first to Village Bay (Mayne Island) and then to Otter Bay (Pender Island). We naturally got to speculate on which islands were which as we made our way through the Pass, and of course we spotted many ferries and speculated on what their names were, where they were heading, and were we going to collide? At one point I chirped "Hey, what's all that white stuff at the shore far ahead?". "That's Swartz Bay", came the voice of an obviously jaded lady, five seats away.
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We landed at Swartz Bay, and I was relieved to see that Dodie's tire was still ok. It will be interesting to have a close look, back at the "lab", where I will change the tube - whether it needs it or not.
We set off down the Saanich Peninsula, following at first the so familiar Lochside Trail. It was still just 9 degrees - but bright sunshine! We just dawdled along, sort of reluctant to be bringing what had been a wonderful and refreshing eight days to a close.
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Eventually we rolled up to the Brentwood Bay ferry terminal for our final ride, over to the Mill Bay side of the Finlayson Arm. Now we paid the price for our dawdling. The ferry had left 12 minutes earlier. Next one - in two hours!
Ok, well this was our chance to blow one final pile of cash on a restaurant meal. Just beside the dock is the Seahorses Cafe. We got a sunny table looking out at the dock. Despite living on an island, docks and water are not really part of our daily routine. We are more like landlubber farmers, though we can see Saltspring's Mount Tuam from our place. So all this sleeping and sitting by the water has been a real vacation!
Seahorses was flavourful, though my chicken was rubbery and Dodie's salmon was dry. This did not stop us from enjoying it, however.
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I have also just realized that we just got through setting up Dodie with a separate account on Cycleblaze. That means she will not read this any sooner than anyone else - which will not be until the page is done - later today. So if the tire makes it home without exploding, I am golden!
When we left the restaurant, the tire was soft. But some vigorous pumping got it to the ferry, and in fact all the way home. I am eager to disassemble and to see what really was going on - needs to be really soon.
On the ferry, someone let us know that a whole gaggle of sea lions had hauled out at Cowichan Bay. So instead of ending at home, we went directly to the bay. It was all true. We found about 300 California and Steller sea lions, all draped along the outer floats. They come every year, to feed on the Coho salmon getting ready to enter the Koksilah and Cowichan rivers. True to having waited until 2019 for our marine and island discovery year, we had not been aware that they come every year.
Walking the floats, we were also impressed by the number and size of the fishing boats moored there. Continuing to show our non-fishing background, we typically looked at these and asked ourselves how they would work out for commuting to an office job in Vancouver.
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Finally tiring of this last nautical adventure, we returned to the farm. Firing up the wood stove and turning up the hot tub, I guess we are getting ready for Winter at the homestead. The only thing is, there are some lingering loose ends. For one thing, while we tried the best ever cod, and halibut fish and chips at the Clearwater on Mayne Island, we missed sampling the salmon. Next, we failed to cycle the full length of Porlier Pass Road on Galiano, and we did not even try Bluff Road (due to a rumour that it is gravel). Lastly, we totally missed Saturna Island. What all that adds up to, necessarily, is that "We'll be back!"
Stay tuned for the assessment of our new foul weather gear, the diagnosis on Dodie's Presta valve, and a photo of the photo of our rain forest that I total failed to rival.
Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 283 km (176 miles)
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Take care
Tricia
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