Day1-June4- 42mi/10mph avg/approx 4hr pedal time

Our hostess Eleanor and a friend of hers rode us to the Brentwood Ferry. It was a hilly and pretty ride. Temps have been in the low/mid 50's F which is very cool for me. I was swimming and it was 90 F when I left AL ! Big change. It was spitting rain as well so we got our little taste of what it can be like here in BC.

The ride was approx 1 1/2 hrs. Our 3rd person, Janet , lives nearer the ferry so she joined us there. We had a lovely good bye with Eleanor and then took of on the ferry. It is a 30 min. ride and allowed us to miss riding Malahat MT. We were not ready for that kind of climb this early in the trip. The ferry ride is beautiful. It goes up Saanich Inlet..it becomes a fjord. Just beautiful. Janet's DH sent her a text on her cell and said he could see our ferry as it was making its way across. He was on Willis Point at work. They live near Gowlland Prov Park so have a gorgeous view of the area.

When we left the ferry it was a hilly and chilly ride with spitting rain. We kept taking off and putting on clothes. That has remained the trend so far. It never stays the same more than an hour or less :)

We camped for the night on Osborne Bay in Crofton BC . It was $28 for the 3 of us. Great deal and very clean. Beautiful place and we right on the water. I went to bed at 8 PM as I was so tired. It doesn't get dark here until 10 PM and then gets light at 5AM ~ Short nights. I am plenty warm as I have a good tent and down sleeping bag. Good warm clothes so I am all set.

Food. We had granola and fruit and juice and coffee before we set out. Then we stopped for a nice lunch. I had a bowl of seafood chowder and a chicken salad sandwich on a bagel. It was a LOT of food so I saved 1/2 of the sandwich for later. In camp I fixed the instant red mashed potatoes that I like but then I was too full to eat the sandwich. I had to toss it :( I did laundry for everyone...I always do as it is my way of helping out. Hit the hay and slept great.

Day 2 -June5-55mi/12mph avg/4:31 min pedal time

Slept great and we got up and got of at 8:30 AM> Yesterday we got off at 9 AM. We fixed instant oatmeal -raisin is my favorite and coffee in camp. I cleaned my chain this AM and also reloaded my packs so that the back ones are heavier and the fronts are lighter. In spite of what others say on the blogs etc it is NOT true that you can have very heavy ones in front. It throws of the steering. But things went way better today.

Yesterday was emotional and with the bike being set up badly and the weather and the excitement it was a lot. Today was so much better for us all. Janet is in GREAT shape. She is 40 and bikes the hills here 25 mi round trip to work 5 days a week !! She is awesome and a great sport with us old foagies !!

We stopped in Ladysmith mid morning today and I had a coffee and a lemon muffin...yum !! We rode through Chimainus and had to get on the Trans Canada Hwy for a time. Whew...BIG trucks and a lot of traffic. Not pleasant. We got back off and were on Cedar Rd in the county and that was much better...but HILLY LOL. Can't have everything. In Nanaimo we had a long way around town and then got on 19A. This is the original Island Parkway. There is now a 19 to replace the old on and we will have to get on it on day 4..bummer.

WE camped at Rathtrevor Prov park. Beautiful and right on the water. Walked some while the tide was out. A little smelly :) but really interesting a lots of drift wood. We saw so much logging :( They are stripping the mountains of Douglas FIr. And to make it worse they have closed mills here in the Island and they export the wood to be processed elsewhere. Really awful and the mountains have giant growing scars from the tree removal . Victoria also dumps all their raw sewage in the Ocean. They decided that nature can handle it. As for Seattle they hate it and many won't come here because of it. At least Victoria is planning on building a treatment plant but they can't decide how it should look...don't want an eyesore. Many arbutus trees have also been cut down...they are like the Madrone. And also the Gerry Oaks are all being cut down. Progress...people who live here hate it but there are those that want money more than trees. ( sorry that was all the ranting I will do )

We stopped at Milano's for lunch . I had a ham wrap and chicken cauliflower soup. It was fantastic I saved 1/2 sand . and this time I did eat it later. We went to a health food store and the guy was so nice and made me a 2# fruit salad with red raspberries and strawberries and pineapple and blueberries. I had 1/2 and saved 1/2 for the AM> I did eat it. He charged $5 for all organic fruit ! He was an angel.

OK I had planned on writing about today but I have been too wordy and I haven't eaten !! It is almost 7PM and I have to finish the dryer LOL. Too much to do. It is raining ...bummer. XXOO to you all !!