• 3rd, 4th  and 5th Aug 2018

Vancouver – Friday

Talk about resting in peace and luxury. It was very nice, when you don’t think about the cost. It was a great location, especially as things were building up for the Pride parade and long weekend celebrations. 

 

 

A very nice city to wander around on a beautiful summer day. A relaxed and easy going feel to it.

From us to the Hostel, where Art and John were staying, was about a ten minute walk, and from there, another five minutes to the foreshore, and a water taxi. Art suggested we take one over to Granville Island, and check out the tourist destination. Sounded cool to us, and the water taxis were just so cute.

 

 

Look at that cute little boat taxi. The grand Granville bridge, and us being tourists.

A couple of bucks, and a quick zip across, and we were there. Once upon a time, it was an industrial area, and now it is a combination of tourism, culture and industry. A really nice mix, with lots of street performers, art galleries and artisans, amazing markets and foods, with a distillery and brewery thrown in. Well worth the visit. We walked back to a little pub across from our swanky hotel, called The Winking Judge, and had a snack and a last beer with Art, before he flies home tomorrow. Thanks for a great journey so far, Super Art. Cheers.

 

 

It was a good way to spend the day. Lots of interesting things to see. The brewery had a line way too long. We don’t line up for beer.

Saturday

Art has departed, and John goes tomorrow. Al is in Vancouver working, so we organised to meet for lunch close to John’s hostel. Fat Burger, is another burger chain, (my Doctor told me not to eat too many burgers, oops) and we enjoyed chatting and catching up with Al and of course John. A few hours later, we waved goodbye to Al, and the three of us went for a walk around the downtown area, before finding another little pub called Lennox Pub. We enjoyed a couple of beers with John, before he departed for his airport hotel, and we went back to swankyville to enjoy the last of our luxury. A bit of grocery shopping, make sure everything is packed up, and relax. Aaahhh!

 

 

You are an interesting guy, Al Lens, and it has been a pleasure catching up with you. Ride safely.

Sunday, Vancouver to Nanaimo 25kms

Not a huge day riding, and having the Pride Parade on today, meant that some roads were closed, and there wasn’t much traffic. It made it very easy to get out of downtown, and into Stanley Park. Really nice to cycle through, although a few small hills, and a lot of road bikes.

 

 

Good to see the kids all safe and sound. Time to get loaded and back on the go.

 

 

A lovely ride through the park and up onto Lionsgate Bridge. Great views.

Now Madame Google wanted us to take the Marine drive, along the coast, even though it was longer. Dave GPS, wanted us to take the scenic route through the “burbs” to see the posh houses. It did run along close to the good old Number One Highway. Stupid us, listened to Davo, you think we would know by now not to. The problem was the “burbs”, and their lovely houses with beautiful gardens, were all on these short steep hills, that we actually had to walk up. We stopped a couple of times, and I rejuvenated by picking and eating the wild blueberries. Yum, yum, yum. Finally we’d had enough of Davo’s crap, so back with the Madame, and she got us onto the Number One and a nice downhill run through to Horseshoe Bay and the ferry terminal. Buy a couple of tickets for $76, for both of us, and we had time for some lunch and a chat with some German tourists, who also liked cycle touring, Connie and Stefan. We also rang ahead to the campground to make sure we could stay. Lucky we did, they only had RV sites left at $48/night. Oh well, maybe Carsten (another German cyclist we met, getting on the ferry) needs somewhere to stay and would be happy to go thirds?

The ferry ride was uneventful, and no whales or other cool wildlife spotted. We got off in Nanaimo, with Carsten, who was very happy to share our campsite. We all rode to the shop, which was right next to a very big tent city, of homeless people. What has gone so wrong here, to make all these people homeless? Apparently the housing market here has sky rocketed, and made it very unaffordable for the average person. A bit sad to see. Anyway, with groceries purchased, we headed off on the backroads to the Living Forest Oceanside Campground. It was huge! Very nicely done though, except they only had two shower blocks, (I guess we’re cycling for a shower again) and Wifi only worked at the office or the Cafe, both of which were miles from our site. Ugh! 

 

 

Bikes are so cool, first on, first off, and so easy to park.

We enjoyed sharing with Carsten, who was heading over to the smaller islands, to do an island hopping cycle tour for the next few days. This is his first major tour, and funnily enough, he started in Calgary on the day we arrived there. He is going at our preferred pace of 45 – 60kms/day, doing more if required. He caught a train from Jasper to Hope, then rode to Vancouver. He also got stung with the high priced hotels, so got out of town early too. All the RV dwellers around us were super friendly, and even offered us their left over home made pie with cream. Fantastic! It was delicious. A great end to a fun day.

Carsten and our RV site. So much room, just not good for tents that need pegs. Our tent was fine, it is free standing, and as Will said, “Once Jenny’s in there it won’t go anywhere.” Yes, he did get a hairy eyeball and a mumbled curse word, for that. Cheeky bugger!