Salt Spring Island: Birthday Cycling Weekend

My birthday is in July and therefore associated in my mind with sun and warmth. It didn’t look like I was going to get any of those this year. The forecast called for rain and clouds, so our initial plan to do a hike somewhere fell through. For some reason we thought that cycling in the rain is not too bad compared with hiking in the rain, so we came up with the plan to cycle to Salt Spring Island. We cycled in the rain to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, just like we did on the May long weekend when we cycled the Galloping Goose Trail. We caught the direct ferry to Long Harbor on Salt Spring. Luckily it wasn’t rainy once we got there and first of all we cycled to the Saturday Farmers’ Market. We mostly enjoyed the tastings of the different goat and sheep cheeses.

We feasted on Salmonberries on our way to the campground, arriving to Ruckle Provincial Park in the late afternoon. This is a very popular campground in summer but because of the chilly weather we didn’t have trouble finding a good spot. We cooked dinner near the beach and put up the tarp just in case, and of course it didn’t rain. This campground is beautiful, overlooking the water.

In the morning we cycled back to town and met up with Jan and Warrick who came from Vancouver Island. We did a loop on the north side of the island and stopped at some nice beaches. We caught the ferry to Crofton with them. Somehow they managed to carry all four bikes and all four people in their small car. We stopped in Chemainus on the way, where there are many interesting murals. Jan treated us to a birthday ice cream and then they dropped us off in Nanaimo. We cycled back from Horseshoe Bay and again it was drizzling. We stopped in downtown Vancouver for a Mexican dinner at Don Guacamole. Back at home I received my birthday gift, a used KitchenAid Mixer, just like I wanted.

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