October 16, 2021
Day 5: Parksville to Ladysmith
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Very heavy rains fell in the night, but by morning it was temporarily over. However Dodie reported that a guy in a nearby unit came out at about 11, and rampaged about, swearing, until well past 2. This was apparently some kind of permanent resident and his problem was that someone had let his cat out. He seemed to blame motel management, at length!
My brother phoned at 7 from Montreal, because he had been reading the weather warnings. The forecasters were continuing to talk about flooding, landslides, and a general apocalypse.
Despite all that, we set off in dry conditions. This allowed us to go down and check out Rathtrevor beach, which is the main attraction of this area.
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To be sure, the Rathtrevor area is lovely, and the beach even had slightly surf like waves!
Lined up near the beach are as series of resorts. Joni seems to favour Tigh-Na-Mara, but we are too cheap to consider it!
We were not too cheap, however, to pedal an extra little bit just to have a look at the resorts. Unlike on the Mexican Riviera, or something, these resorts are pretty woodsy and low key. So Tigh-Na-Mara did not necessarily look like much, from outside anyway.
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We also lurked around the Parksville museum, which has settler buildings installed on its grounds. Again, from outside we did not see too much. But with rain surely coming we did not want to linger long.
Speaking of buildings, while belittling the development at Craig Bay with all almost identical buildings the other day, I did overlook the painting scheme itself, as opposed to the fact that all were painted alike. The scheme features two tones and often three tones, one of which is usually the brown of cedar shingles. This scheme, combined with horizontal wood siding, is very characteristic of this area, just like "fachwerk" is in Germany. So here is a legitimate shot of that style from today:
The respite from rain ended as we left Parksville, and we got not a deluge but an honest moderate rain. If we had not had our rain pants, hoods, waterproof gloves, etc. we would have been really drenched. As it was on the outside at least all our stuff was thoroughly wet.
We had arranged to drop in on the Prices in Nanaimo. Poor Prices! And they are going to get called on once more yet before this day is done. The Price's dried us out, and Jim made his famous macaroni and cheese. We chatted for a satisfyingly long time, as our batteries also took on some extra zip.
Today is Dodie's birthday! and as we were to see she accidentally cycled her age (in kms): 73. But Sue Price had another gift for Dodie, which can be seen in this photo. Guessing it's use is left as an exercise for the reader!
We had chosen the Raven Point Inn and Marina for tonight, which is out of the way, across the inlet from Ladysmith, specifically for their restaurant where we could have a Dodie birthday meal. But, they decided to close the restaurant, presumably when they saw us coming. Here is where Jim and Sue (and their car!) stepped in again, and we all headed out to the Crow and Gate - a pub restaurant much recommended.
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The day was capped as Laurie and kids Avi and Violet arranged a zoom with Josh and Sabrina in Montreal and Joni in Victoria, to wish Dodie Happy Birthday. And Dodie got a Happy Birthday over the phone with the Montreal grandkids as well. The exhausted Dodie had trouble squinting at the little screen images on the Zoom, but she appreciated the sentiment. Later, while still on the call but having sent Dodie to bed, I figured out how to enlarge the images! Oh well. At least, dear readers you too can have a peek at some of the lovely callers:
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3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
And this is how it looked in Seattle:
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 276 km (171 miles)
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3 years ago