Day 1: To Saltspring Island

June 30, 2007

My wife and I ate breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and walked to the Victoria Express ferry terminal. I said goodbye to my wife who boarded the ferry back to Port Angeles and then drove home to Oregon. I got on the bike, now on my own for the next 38 days.

I had only about 10 minutes of city streets to get around the inner harbour to the bike trail. The weather was sunnier than the previous two days.

Seaplanes and all sizes of boats use the Victoria inner harbour.

I rode the Galloping Goose trail for only about 5 km before turning onto the Lochside trail. The Lochside trail ends a few km from the town of Swartz Bay at the north end of the Saanich Peninsula. There I will board a ferry for Saltspring Island.

Selkirk Trestle is the longest trestle on the Galloping Goose Trail

Impressive underpass mural on the Galloping Goose Trail.

The Galloping Goose trail crosses under the local roads.

Wide trestle over a wetland, Lochside trail.

The trail had a lot of bike traffic as expected for a beautiful sunny day on a holiday (Canada day) weekend. I saw a dozen loaded touring cyclists on the trails. Probably mostly from Vancouver, touring the islands during the holiday weekend. The trail is mostly flat but it has about 12 km of packed gravel.

Downtown Sidney, north Saanich Peninsula. The Washington State ferry terminal is nearby.

I had to wait 1.5 hours for the next ferry to Saltspring Island. There's nothing to do at the ferry terminal.

The Schwarz Bay-Fulford ferry goes from the North Saanich Peninsula to Saltspring Island.

Saltspring Island is MUCH hillier than the Saanich Peninsula. It took me 1.5 hours to get to Ruckle Provincial Park on the southeastern coast of Saltspring Island.

Ruckle Provincial Park has a view of the huge ferries plying the water between Vancouver and Victoria.

Ruckle Provincial Park is unlike any other park I've seen. It has 78 walk-in campsites and only 8 drive-in campsites. I think I got the last available site. It's packed for the holiday weekend and most of the campers are college age folks who have been drinking a lot. Kind of noisy but I had fun at the communal campfire area. I saw 4 other touring cyclists at the campground but didn't talk to them.

Water-view campsite at Ruckle Provincial Park, Saltspring Island.

Communal campfire area at Ruckle Provincial Park, Saltspring island.

Today was an easy day. Relatively flat and short distance. But the ride still seemed to take all day. That's partly because of the ferry ride and 1.5 hour wait for the ferry. And partly because I intentionally went very slow. It's my first day on the road and I'm not in a hurry.

Distance: 51 km / 31.9 mi

Climbing: 400 m / 1320 ft

Average speed: 14.1 km/h / 8.8 mph

Maximum speed: 54.9 km/h / 34.3 mph

Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 51 km (32 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0