Victoria

Leaving Nanaimo I managed to stay on bike paths for nearly the whole day. I only road 3km on Hwy 1, which was nice. The Vancouver area and eastern Vancouver Island has great bicycle infrastructure. When I got to Duncan, I headed up some hills to find the Cowichan Valley Trail, which was a rail trail that ran the rest of the way to Shawnigan Lake.

The Cowichan Valley trail was flat and wide with a hard dirt/gravel surface. It was really good riding. I stopped and ate a snack on a rock by one of the many other walking/mountain biking trails that intersected it. At 9pm I arrived at West Shawnigan Lake Provincial Park, which was empty, and I put my tent up behind some bushes by the lake. In the morning I watched the light from the sun turn a little bit darker and oranger as a partial solar eclipse occured.

I continued down the Cowichan Valley Trail and then turned off towards Sooke Lake, where I would find the beginning of the Galloping Goose Trail, a 55km trail which led all the way to Victoria. However, just before getting to the start of the trail, that road was blocked off by a giant gate and fence that said, "Greater Victoria Drinking Water Supply Area." It went into the woods in either direction as far as I could see. So I turned back.

I rejoined the Cowichan Valley Trail, but at this point it was no longer a rail trial, and rather a series of steep gravelly hills. I had to push my bicycle up about 6 of them. I got to the end of the trail and returned to Hwy 1., which was a fun 300m descent down to near Victoria. In Langford I found a section of the Galloping Goose trail and followed it into the city.

I picked up some beers at a store and rode down to the park at "Mile 0" of the TransCanada highway -- an end point for many cross-country bike trips. I hung out there until 6pm. Robin's sister, Heidi, lives in Victoria, and offered a spare bedroom for the night, which was great! We chatted with her roommates for a while and then went to a local pub.

On Tuesday at 3pm I got on a ferry to Port Angeles, Washington, USA!