August 26, 2014
Day 6: Saanich to Pedder Bay
After all the ice cream, trains, and zoos of Saanich and Victoria, this was our day to strike off into the "wilderness", toward Sooke. Normally a term like wilderness would be a typical Grampies dramatization, so I was gratified to see it referred to as such on the Galloping Goose sign at an access point. Maybe that is just a Capital Regional District dramatization, because right now we are swimming at a very civilized beach on little Glen Lake, after eating our civilized turkey sandwiches from a Co-op Gas station.
The path is almost entirely flat, and very easy going.It has just turned to gravel, but the gravel itself is reasonably smooth and no problem. We stopped for a drink, and were greeted by a very sweet and well groomed pussy cat. We could not tell where it came from, though it clearly was not a stray. We push onward just a bit, until Violet spotted it - a perfect little beach by a small lake, with steps leading down and rocks to sit on. We were sitting on the steps getting organized and thinking about whether we would swim in the lake or just wade, when two young girls came along and jumped right in. Wow, they never even tested with a toe first. I asked them about this, and they claimed to be water "experts".
Swimming in a cool and clean lake on a sunny day is a fine activity. We spent at least an hour and a half at Glen Lake. Good call, Violet!
After Glen Lake the trail entered what turned out to be at least a 10 km tunnel bike way through the forest. It was easy to imagine a steam engine travelling here, the steam and smoke suffusing the surrounding trees. Here we came upon Stu and Katie, riding Bike Fridays. They are from Austin Texas and were doing a day ride on the Goose. They had come with the Fridays by plane. Tomorrow, they said, they would head for Whistler (on the mainland). Talking about Austin recalled for me our time on the Southern Tier, which in retrospect is seeming like a lot of fun. This must be a form of cyclist's amnesia!
A small farm by the trail side gave us a chance to stop (we take every such chance). There was a small herd of goats, with a billy among them. We could smell them from hundreds of feet away. A picnic table in the shade was ideal, whike Avi zoomed in for the best goat shots. We also noticed a little white dog, watching us from the farm driveway. He was so quiet and calm we needed to check to see if he was real. He could perhaps get a job training his colleagues in Texas about being calm around bicycles!
Our previous research in the van was helpful now, as we crossed over roads we had crawled down earlier. Thanks to this, we knew exactly where to go to find the campsite we needed. So we turned off the trail and on to Rocky Point Road, heading for Pedder Bay. Violet immediately spotted a patch of evergreen blackberries, another good excuse to stop. All along the trail there had been many ripe and accessible blackberries, of the most common type, whcich is the Himalayan. The Evergreen has pointier leaves and (we think) sharper thorns, bit a sweeter flavour As is usual, the very best berries were out of reach, up high. A ditch in front of them made it all the harder. I waded in a bit and stretched, to collect a handful, and then held these out to Avi and Violet. Unfortunately there were an uneven number of berries in my hand, and Violet snatched the "extra" one. This was too much for Avi, who both burst into tears and bonked her hard on the helmet. You know the drill after that - reprimands, lessons in sharing, comforting any and all injured parties, apologies, qand of course Grandpa then gathering enough berries to ensure that everyone would be sick.
Pedder Bay camping - which is mainly a Marina - was also easy for us since we had checked it out earlier. We bypassed all the confusing signs about where and how to register, and rolled into "unserviced" site #1. This has a table and fire pit, a backing of bush and forest, and cedar fencing separating it from the next sites. Then we walked over to the office/shop/restaurant and popped down our $21 for tonight, and $21 for the night after next. So, we are set!
In the shop, Avi and Violet found some crazy sewn hats for sale and displayed on a series of cubby hole shelves. We (Avi, Violet, and me - Dodie was busy with the business end of matters) occupied ourselves setting up a posed photo with these hats. After, we all asked ourselves, where were Violet's new sunglasses? Had we taken them off for the photo shoot? Where had they gotten misplaced at? We reviewed the photos for clues. We set Grandpa, the best searcher, to going through the cubbyholes. Violet did not cry, but the ladies in the shop promised to keep looking. Of course, we found the glasses back at the campsite, in Violet's helmet. Pretty soon we should go tell the ladies to stop looking!
Having an enclosed campsite with table is ideal, for anyone, but with kids it gives a defined home area important for their peace of mind and ours. We can sit at our table doing activity cards, playing with our Power Rangers or typing our Blog with shade and comfort. After a while we may take a container and see about more of those evergreen blackberries, or check out the food offerings at the snack bar. How cool is that!
The snack bar turned out to also have snacks for seasgulls and one seal, in the form of a spot where fishermen could clean their catch. The poor seal, though, never seemed to get a chance since the birds were so fast. The kids and us, of course, were rooting for the seal and even begged some fish that we tried to give him, but no luck. He will just haveto go out and do his own fishing, I guess.
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Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 175 km (109 miles)
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