Day 10 - Victoria (Sat. July 10)

Mike and Mel were picked up by friends early Saturday morning so that Kevin, Susan, Sal and I were free to wander. We decided to go to Victoria for a bike ride. The girls would amuse themselves and catch up. We went for the 11am ferry from Tsawassen to Swartz Bay. It's a great way to travel, a little costly but fast and efficient. From the ticket purchase to pulling away from the dock was less than 20 minutes. Hard to believe all that they carry. We had some lunch right on the boat. Sal and I went out on the deck for some pictures but the wind was cold and blowing hard so we got only a few before heading in for warmth.
After landing we made the 20 minute drive down to Victoria. Downtown was buzzing. People, bikes, cars and horse drawn carriages all vying for space. Last time we came it was much later, during the week and nowhere near as busy. Kevin circled the ocean side trail looking for a place to drop off the girls but bikes were not allowed on the coastal trail so they ended up in a park a bit more inland. We took off through downtown and on to the Galloping Goose Trail. It went near the inner harbour and around the bay. We went out about 15km and then headed back. About a 2 hour ride. On the way in we followed a guy totally decked out in new gear. He constantly checked his mirror to see if we could keep up. Nothing like a challenge. I laughed with Kevin as I stomped on singlespeed Eowyn to stay on his multi-geared tail uphill. I found my climbing legs late on the ride with Mike, getting up a steepish 1km hill after about 70km and I still had them as I nagged the back wheel of the newbie. We stopped for a picture but Kevin had a bit of an adventure figuring out the camera-phone. He got some video and a picture of his thumb before we finally got this one of me in front of the Empress Hotel. We didn't stop for tea.

After getting back to the girls we loaded the bikes (Kevin found a Schwinn with pretty decent components for $60, worth about 4 times that) and went to Sidney for supper at the Beacon Landing beside the beach. Then it was off to the ferry for the 1 1/2 hour return crossing and 1/2 hour drive home. A long day.

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