Boundary Bay to Mud Bay: Cycling Along the Dike

Delta has crowned itself the “sunniest place in Metro Vancouver”, and it sure was sunny there on Sunday. It’s been a cool, gray and rainy spring in Vancouver, so we’ve been trying to soak up every last drop of sun that we can get. What could be better than a sunny bike ride along Boundary Bay?

We started our trip at Centennial Beach in Delta, which was teeming with suntanning action, but not much swimming action. The gravel trail that connects Boundary Bay Regional Park and Mud Bay Park is scenic, flat, quiet and a joy to ride! It runs along a dyke, giving a good view all around, of both agricultural land, the tidal marshes, and the ocean beyond. We figure we could even see the Olympic Peninsula and downtown Vancouver clearly on this day.

Many birds flock to this area, since it is on the “Pacific Flyway”. Yes, that’s like a highway for birds! I guess they don’t need to worry about speed limits and staying in the right lane. We saw lots of birds, and one Bald Eagle that was spying on us from right above the trail. In between Boundary Bay and Mud Bay there weren’t many people on the trail, it seems most people do shorter trips from either end. We found a nice lunch spot at Mud Bay, where we had our customary mangoes, which we seem to carry on all our recent cycling trips. After all, it’s mango season now, somewhere in the world…

After cycling 42km and returning to our car, we drove to the nearby Westham Island Herb Farm to pick some bright red sweet strawberries ($1.50/lb). These strawberries are at best a distant uncle to the “cucumber strawberries” we get from California. They are smaller, but more importantly, full of flavour and smell just like summer. Maya baked a delicious strawberry cake, chock a block full of strawberries. Then I dehydrated some for backcountry breakfasts, and soon enough they were all finished. We’ll have to go again soon.

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