The Beach Will Have to Wait

Rathtrevor Provincial Park Campground, near Parksville
Distance traveled: 383.5 km
Cumulative distance: 2063 km
Maximum speed: 122 km/h
Average speed: 63 km/h
Tmerate range: 12.2 - 22.8 C

Very little battery left, very little cell signal so not sure how far I'll get with this tonight. Certainly no pictures till tomorrow night.

Up early this morning with the intent of catching the 9:00 a.m. ferry over from Tswassen to Schwartz Bay. My big brother Dan was up at the same time as us to make us a strong coffee before getting on the road at the planned time of 7:45 a.m. We organized our gear pretty fast; we each have our assigned tasks; and we were pretty much loaded except the tank bag by 7:35, so it looked good for a 7:45 departure. There were heavy clouds in the air and it was spitting slightly but nothing too threatening. We drank our coffees indoors and we were walking out right at 7:45 a.m. by which time, the rain had started to fall. A lot. It was actually 7:55 before we were pulling away from Dan's driveway and the GPS was forecasting 32 minutes to the ferry terminal. BC Ferries does not take motorcycle reservations and even if they did, we would not have been able to make the commitment of showing up a half hour early. Hut it is much easier to squeeze on a bike than a car so as long as we could make it in time to be loaded we would be fine. But it poured on us. We made it to the ferry terminal at 8:38 a.m. We had multiple seconds to spare though my arms were soaked and Nan was wet where she had the vents opened in her riding pants.

The ferry ride was without incident and in fact, the weather was much nicer on the island than the mainland as there was no rain and the clouds were breaking. Plus it was warming up.

Without incident FOR US! Not so lucky for these two ferries on a collision course!

On the island, we headed out towards Sooke. Nan has been out there before be me never. We were soon rewarded with a twisty ride on narrow roads by going through Metchosin. There is a very pleasant bay near Sooke with a marina and colourful houses reminiscent of and east coast fishing village and we stopped an took a look around.  Once through Sooke, we were bombing up Hwy 14 to Port Renfrew hugging the coastline and eyeing the beaches, though it wasn't really the sort of day that was enticing to go sit on a beach unless planning to surf perhaps. Despite it being so pleasant when we hit the island, and even Sooke, the weather is changeable here and the clouds were rolling off the water over the beach and engulfing us.

Great shot, Nan. Way to capture the mood.

About halfway to Port Renfrew, we stopped at a little cafe on the beach called Cold Shoulder. There is a large sign as you walk in that say "Before you ask THERE ARE NO WASHROOMS so don't even ask" . Not entirely sure that is to code.  But they do make a good latte and we each have a piece of flatbread with brie, turkey and cranberries. We are enjoying ourselves at a picnic table outside and we are joined by another couple from Kamloops who are riding a new-to-you Goldthing and are clearly having a fun day. They are about our age but have adult children and grandchildren everywhere including Edmonton, where the son is in the PO-lice.

We are all on our way again and before we hit Port Renfrew, we hit a serious patch of fog. It is thick pea soup and it is tough seeing the oncoming traffic and it makes me think about the value of adding some more serious lighting to the bike. Stuff the aircraft use when landing. To make people thing they have somehow veered off the road and ended up on a runway somewhere. With a 787 coming straight at them.

Highway 14 is paved with lines all the way but it is a bit rough. Not like we have in Edmonton where "rough" means that roads are frost heaved and broken into chunks. The coast road has continuous dips and mounds that either launch Nan into low earth orbit or bottom the bike's rear shock and drag the centre stand. I guess Nan could have told me to slow down. Each time the centre stand hit the pavement, she would just go "Ohh!"

At Port Renfrew, the road turns inland and we are cutting across the island to Duncan, where we are hooking up with an old high school chum of mine and his wife. We are going to have dinner there before we head onto the campground near Parksville. The road across the island is narrow, windy, no lines and a continuous succession of one lane bridges. It is 89 km across the island and by the time we get to Lake Cowichan, my arms are sore from swinging the bike around one corner then another.

(Just got the battery warning). We got to Rathtrevor at 8:05 p.m. with just enough light to get the tent set up. WE haven't even seen the beach but hopefully we will be awake early enough to go for a walk. maybe somebody will take pity on us and give as a coffee in the morning.