Vancouver Island II

It's been another blissful week on Vancouver Island - sweet riding every day, family walks, lots of swimming, and meeting some fantastic people.

Firstly, we stayed one night at Beaver lake (near Lake Cowichan) and did a week's worth of washing and drying! The next day we cycled the Cowichan river trail in the morning and headed to a wee town called Duncan in the afternoon.

Mt Tzouhalem is named after a visious, warring chief who used to hide out in the caves on the mountain before between raids. Legend has it that when he tired of his "wife" he would take her up to the point of the cross and throw her off the cliff! Then he would go on a raid and take another wife....it is rumoured that he had up to 40 wives over the years, but had only 14 current ones when he was murdered in 1859.  Despite a few minor arguments in the campervan, you'll be pleased to hear that no wives were hurled off Mt Tzouhalem when we were there.

After checking out some cool, flowy tracks and vistas at Mt Tzouhalem we headed north to the dreamy wee Cumberland. Imagine - Rotorua's riding combined with a Wanaka of 20 years ago set to a hipster vibe, including a brewery and pizza joint. We highly recommend Cumberland to any Canada bound travellers - especially those who fancy two wheels!    Did we mention the great bakery, vegan cafe, nice playground and library for the kids!

Doubling up on the swing! 

Waterfront campsite Lake Comox - Cumberland

Woodpecker

We spent an idyllic four days riding, swimming, kayaking and relaxing. The riding so far is far more mellow than we expected with loads of intermediate trails spattered with some good challenges.  The weather came to the party with temps in the high twenties and expansive blue skies. The warmth brought the Canadians out of hibernation- these people love camping and the outdoors so much!
We made friends with our neighbours- well actually Juliet and Frida made friends with most of the camp ground! This resulted in Frida being able to try out lots of new water activities.

No bear sitings to date, however I gave Kate a good scare after turning up an hour and half late from a ride! Really I had just ridden too far into a difficult area and it took me AGES to get back.

We visited the Courtenay museum which had lots of dinosaur fossils and models. Juliet was more interested in the wall plugs! 

Kate celebrated her 35th birthday in style with lots of riding, swims, pontoon jumping,  beer and pizza! Her present was a guided 'epic' 4.5 hr ride to the 'Forbidden Plateau' the next day.... a ride to remember!

Our next stop was Hornby Island- 2 short ferry rides from Vancouver Island in the Strait of Georgia. So many people we have met along the way have raved about the Island, describing it as "paradise" and "the Hawaii of Canada". It is a small forested island with sandy beaches, a cafe, ice cream shop, taco joint and the entire interior is a mountain bike park! Picturesque climbs and fast, flowy descents made for awesome riding. We spent 2 nights there and loved it. The water was so warm compared to the glacier-fed rivers and lakes we had been swimming in.

Ordering icecream independently

The sunset from our campsite was spectacular and quite fitting as we say goodbye to the west coast of BC and head 800 km east to a town called Rossland.

Haere ra



Extra reading (for the grandparents).....the old trickster in Frida has emerged. The Case of the Missing Shoes. So Miss Juliet has one pair of all-purpose shoes for the trip. Yesterday these mysteriously disappeared! We hunted the RV high and low and checked the shops and park we had visited. Frida adamantly denied any knowledge and let us search the Squirrel Nest. Kate had remained suspicious. Later that night, 12 hours after the disappearance, Kate doubled checked Frida's area.......low and behold a small pair of blue leather shoes. Frida, under interrogation, finally admitted she has hidden them as a trick and was really quite shocked we didn't find it funny! We explained to her the art of a good joke is all in the timing.

Has Kate eaten too many pancakes in Canada, or is it the "angle of the sun" as she claims?!