If We Were Tourists, We would think this is Great!

July 20, 2019

As explained in our earlier brief blog, Grampies Saltspring Sunrise, we were roused from our loveseat on the deck out here on our farm in Cobble Hill, BC, by news that the (famous) Andersons were planning a tour that would run some circles around our area. We decided we had better go off and see what would attract the Andersons way out here. Our first shot at it had us circling Saltspring Island. And now, we have cruised up and down Saanich.

Saanich? -is the peninsula that extends north of the provincial capital Victoria, for about 30 km. It is roughly triangular in shape and so it is hard to characterize its width, but it's about 8 km wide, half way along. Saanich is named for the Saanich first nation, and has the Saanich inlet on its west side and the "Gulf Islands" in the Salish Sea on its east side.

At the northern tip of the peninsula can be found the Victoria airport, and the ferry connection to Vancouver and to some Gulf Islands, together with the sea side town of Sidney. South of this is agricultural land, which turns to suburban development, and also the site of the University of Victoria and Camosun College. Finally, on the east side are upscale neighbourhoods - Cordova Bay, Gordon Head, Cadboro Bay, Uplands, Oak Bay, and finally in the "deep south" the pleasant city of Victoria, with its Empress Hotel, Legislature Buildings, Inner Harbour, Government Street, and the jewel in the crown - Mountain Equipment Co-op, where every cyclist in Victoria will eventually turn up, to buy a rain coat!

Although we may consider Saanich our local area, we are actually separated from it by road by the "Malahat Drive", a massive pass rising all of 356 m (1,156 ft) on the Trans Canada Highway. Ok, the Malahat may not be all that high, but the traffic on there is a real bug, and most cyclists avoid it.

That leaves the water way to Saanich. This takes the form of a ferry, offering a 1/2 hour "sea cruise" across the Saanich Inlet. The cost for a rider and bike is $4.25 pre-paid or $6.80 on the boat, or $2 for a BC senior on a weekday.

Here is what the area, the Trans Canada, and the boat trip look like:

The Saanich Peninsula, with Sidney in the north and Victoria in the south. See the Mill Bay to Brentwood Bay ferry? That's our boat.

We started our first foray by picking up Erika Paxman in Mill Bay. Erika and Marvin already have one blog on Cycleblaze, describing a trip in 2018 from Netherlands to Austria, but this time Erika was interested in seeing how it would be to cycle from home in Mill Bay to work at Camosun College, on the south west side of Saanich.

Getting to Mill Bay involves grappling a bit with the Trans Canada Highway.

You can tell these ladies are pros from their visors!

The ferry workers have a lot of experience accommodating cyclists, who often arrive in large numbers or groups. On the day with Erika, there were over 40, from northern California, on a supported tour. And yesterday, about the same number on a Vancouver Island tour in support of Island hospices.

Island hospice tour coming from the ferry area.

The ferry workers said they would have appreciated advance notice from the California riders.

We are leaving the ferry at Saanich, while even more cyclists prepare to board.

The goal of our route on Saanich yesterday was to noodle over to the east side, and descend the premier bike route there, the Lochside Trail, down past the Classen's place in Oak Bay, along upscale Beach Drive and ultimately to ground zero - MEC. From there we would return to the Classen's, who had invited three other touring couples and ourselves to first ever Cycleblaze BBQ. (more on that below). From there we would make our way to Dodie's sister's place in Victoria, and collapse!

Here is the route:

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Although Saanich is close to us as the seagull flies, the climate there is actually much more gentle than at our place. We can see this with less snow in Winter and in the fact that the berries ripen weeks earlier. Even the foliage is different. Shortly after debarking, we could notice things like this "monkey puzzle" tree (Araucaria araucana), which in fact is the national tree of Chile.

Or then there is the class of evergreen that we just call Dr. Seuss trees, like this:

As we set out across Saanich, heading for the Lochside, we always had the advantage of a wide shoulder, marked for bicycles. And when it came time to cross the majar highway leading to the ferry, there was a dedicated bike/pedestrian bridge.

Saanich is riddled with roads where cycles are recognized

You never have to ride on anything like this.

Along the Lochside trail there are two super well known food stops. One is Mitchell Farm and the other, further south, is Mattick's Farm. Both spots are great for cyclist watching. This day at Mitchell, the next table held a recumbent made by famous German company HP Velotechnik. To us they are better known for the Scorpion trike, but this two wheeled recumbent was quite fancy as well. We noted that it not only had Bionx assist, but a triple chainring up front and quite large sprockets in the rear. All that would give the thing the ability to climb any hill going. Right now, though, it seemed to be relegated to towing a little dog in a trailer. Yes, you can see anything at Mitchell's.

No doubt recently departed Mitchell, but now out on the trail, was another recumbent - this one a tandem delta trike. I didn't get a clear idea of the make or set up, because I was more intrigued by the impression that it was partially powered by a monkey. Out here anything is possible.

This impression was reinforced by the next thing up, which I labelled a dog and pony show:

It was, of course, just normal traffic on the Lochside.

A little beyond Mattick's Farm we took a turn that led us down through those upscale neighbourhoods that we (peasants from up island) have not visited in many a year. This is now deemed the Seaside Touring Route.

Our first encounter in the Seaside route was a lemonade stand. Now again, it has been some time since we patronized such a stand. I think the price used to be 5 cents -or am I confusing that with psychiatric help in the Peanuts cartoons? Still it would be interesting to survey lemonade stand prices nationwide. I could pair that with my longstanding tracking of the price of ice cream internationally. Can anybody contribute some data?

Pricey lemonade is not the only costly thing in this area. You would have to save a while to buy a typical house, like this:

Maybe a little more, if you also want begonias.

Finally, in Oak Bay we reached the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. This had stood for 90 years, before being totally rebuilt in 2012. They say that 90% of the old building was recycled into the new. You can stay there for just about $400 per night. In some circles, that's cheap.

We began to get deeper into Victoria, and soon passed the 127 foot high "Story Pole",which was originally carved and installed in 1956. It was reworked in 2001, but is again reaching the end of life. The photo in BC Magazine is way better than mine:

Also in Beacon Hill Park is a statue for Terry Fox, the young man who attempted to run across Canada in 1980, having had one leg amputated due to cancer. He called his run the Marathon of Hope, and only made it to Thunder Bay. There is a larger, somewhat more dramatic, memorial there. Here, Mile Zero of the Trans Canada Highway, was his goal.

If you want to cycle across Canada, you should start or end here.

Our own first goal was somewhat more mundane - MEC, the Mountain Equipment Co-op. We explain this to American friends as the Canadian REI (Recreational Equipment Incorporated). Both are outdoor equipment co-ops with a lot of history. Admittedly, REI was founded in 1938 (in Seattle) while MEC is a johnny come lately, founded in 1971 (in Vancouver). I once camped in a park in Seattle and got up early just to go look in the REI window and wait until they opened. How crazy is it to be so devoted to outdoor equipment? Very crazy.

Government Street leads to MEC. It is tourist central.

A side street is closed to traffic, but Government perversely remains open to cars.

We dawdled in MEC, debating the weights of various models of pants that could be used for cycling, the dry-ability of various underwear, and other things we already have and/or don't need. That is, until we realized that we could be late to arrive at the Classens. Then we were all business, and booted it hurriedly up Fort Street and back toward Oak Bay.

The idea of a meet up of Cycleblaze bloggers in Victoria came about from the recognition that we had all been following each other's blogs carefully, but that in some cases we had never met, though being from the same region. Perhaps an impetus was the news that the Portland based Anderson's would be in our region this weekend. Scott and Rachel Anderson have forty blogs on CycleBlaze, which has to be a record. And their recently completed "In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies" is already the "Most Loved" blog ever on CycleBlaze. So having them in town is a "big deal" for our "little group".

Several of our local bloggers were either out on the road or otherwise indisposed, but the Classens were still able to gather in Jacquie and Al Gaudet, Anne and Dave Mathers, as well as the Andersons and of course the famous Grampies. This was more than enough cyclists to generate over four hours of non stop cycling talk!

Talk was lubricated not only by wine (which we assume was good) but also by a fine array of foods generously put forward mostly by Keith and Kathleen. Of the great items there were a pair of fresh rhubarb pies made by Keith. While not "tortes" by any means, they were still yummy.

Here is a view of the group, minus the famous Keith, who was behind the camera:

From left to right, Kathleen, Steve, Dodie, Rachel, Scott, Al, Anne, Dave, Jacquie.

Here we do see Keith, barely, as he is hiding behind a pole. Looking around the table (that's Jacquie's orange sleeve, barely in there) it strikes me that although the members of this group differ greatly from each other in physical and mental makeup, each one has proven an ability to withstand heat, cold, rain, distance, fatigue, and any number of other adversities. Amazing. Addendum: I was looking at the web site of Willie Weir, who attended a meeting of Cycleblazers in Portland last year. There is a list there of some more romantic characteristics of cycle tourers than the simple heat and cold resistance I mentioned: " facing fear, embarrassing blunders and language barriers, ice cream and kindness, Cuba and Colombia, Turkey and Thailand, the world's steepest street and the world's cheapest engagement ring, catching a thief and losing a zebra, a father's touch and a farmer's embrace, buying time and spending another night."

Four hours is barely enough time to touch on all the topics. Here Dodie and Kathleen get in some last licks.

With light failing, the Anderson's and us set off back to the city. It felt like a rather joyous romp through the streets, maybe because of the reduced light, and light traffic. Our day ended at Dodie's sister's, who was definitely wondering what had become of us!

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 80 km (50 miles)

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Suzanne GibsonWow, that must have been a wonderful meet-up. Thanks for the report. Wish I could have been there.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonVery nice reporting, Steve, but for one small but important inaccuracy. I think it’s important to point out that this was NOT the first CycleBlaze BBQ - just the largest. The first, as far as I know, was the meeting of the HAC group at Bruce and Andrea’s home last summer: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/dubrovnik2018/transitions/. Eight CBers were in attendance: Bruce and Andrea, the Grumbys (just returning from their reknowned Undaunted Porridge tour), the Arnims, and ourselves. If I’m remembering correctly, that was actually a larger event, because I think Kat and Willie Wier were also in attendance, as well as young Juniper Arnim and Willie and Kat’s dog. Only 8 actual CBers though.
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5 years ago

Keith KleinHi Steve,
Nicely done, and a new record to boot. You would find France a bit difficult just now. The temp. here in burgundy is set to hit 40!
From your riding clothes, I take it your weather is more pleasant.
Cheers,
Keith
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5 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonI would be glad to correct any inaccuracies - but just to be sure - are you claiming that the Portland meet up was actually a "BBQ"? You can't get more BBQ than ribs, as in Victoria, eh?
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesYup, both events were BBQ’s (there’s a photo of Bruce slaving over the grill in his backyard in the journal entry I linked). So ours this weekend was the largest, but not the first.
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5 years ago

Bruce LellmanVery nice reporting of your journey to attend this historic CycleBlaze event, Steve. I just wanted to also point out (for the CycleBlaze archives) that our gathering was a surprise celebration for the Grumby's who were finishing their journey, Undaunted Porridge, at our house. We were all waiting for them on our front porch and popped a cork upon seeing them round the corner. Isn't this the way every epic bike trip should end? I might also point out that Jeff and Kristen started their longest and first trip together at our house. Also, that CycleBlaze was born in our house while Andrea and I were cycling in Asia and Jeff and Kristen were house/cat sitting for us.
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5 years ago