Vancouver to Chemainus: Once Again, But More Planned

May long weekend was sneaking up on us. It’s been a while since we’d seen our friends on the island and we thought it would be nice to visit again. Last year we had a rushed bike ride to Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal. We figured we could have a much more relaxing experience if we’d actually plan to bike there and take enough time.

We now knew Neil was capable of biking the entire route – 72kms, with some hills. We made one stop at Ambleside Park before connecting to Marine Drive and the narrow, windy way to the ferry terminal.

Upon our arrival we were shocked to see the lineup of the foot passengers trying to get tickets to go on. Even though we took plenty of time to arrive it looked almost impossible that we’d be able to get on that ferry. I am not sure exactly how, and didn’t ask too many questions, but while we were still waiting Gili somehow managed to get us tickets. We rushed to the cyclist entrance and soon enough we were on the ferry.

On the ferry we discovered that the ice cream machine wasn’t working! The kids didn’t think it was good news… We promised them we’d get ice cream in Nanaimo. We were surprised to find one of the best gelatos we ever had at Cold Front Gelato, not far from the Waterfront. If you are in Nanaimo definitely check it out!

We weren’t in a rush to reach our friends since we knew they had visitors that evening. It was also hot so a break by the ocean didn’t sound too bad. We stopped at a beach park in Ladysmith. There was also a food truck there, but unlike the gelato, the food there was some of the worst we ever had… Oh, well. The dip in the ocean was very refreshing, and we managed even though we forgot to bring a towel.

Kai biked the last bit of the bike ride along the rail-trail. We discovered recently, thanks to our Bike Bus, that biking with music helps to keep him going. So we brought the little speaker and he biked really fast especially with his favourite song Wagon Wheel.

We all crashed early and had a good night’s sleep at our friends’ place in Chemainus. The next day we spent the day together, checking out the little town of Chemainus. There are many murals all around, a nice shady park, ice cream, and a specialty called Chemainus bars that we all got a kick from.

In the afternoon our friends from Victoria came for a visit. It’s nice to catch our island friends all at once. We had a good catch up over dinner and the kids enjoyed running around the house with their older “cousin.”

On Monday it was already time to head back. We wanted an early start because we were a bit worried about ferry lineups. Our friends biked with us the first part of the ride and then we continued on our own. Of course we arrived with plenty of time to spare and there were no lineups at all. Luckily the ice cream machine was working this time…

Neil opted to take the bus from Horseshoe Bay to downtown and I gladly joined him. Kai and Gili biked back and we all met up at home after another successful weekend on our bikes and visiting good friends.