PORT RENFREW LOOP, Homeward Bound

DAY 6,  Tue. 07 25, 2017
Scotsman Hotel to North Vancouver
Easy 32 km ride on the Lochside trail to the ferry, transit home

Woke fairly early and felt pretty good despite beer and pizza last night. I think that the pizza was in charge of my destiny.
We dialed in the "Galloping Goose Trail" and then transitioned to the "Lochside Trail"
Took about 2 hours to get to the ferry. I had a couple directional hiccups due to poor sign placement.
I always enjoy the ferry ride. A time to veg. and reflect on the previous few days.
Once on the Tsawwassen side, It was time for a bus ride. Lucky me had a slow leak while on the boat. Also, there is only enough room for 2 bikes on the bus and I was the 3rd man out. Luckily, another bus pulled up soon after. Yay!! Lots of room.
Anyway, the transit experience on the way home was much better than the reverse. I managed to get all the way home without needing to fix Shirley's lack of air.
Big city perks.

Lochside Trail

Tunnel

Cool Bridge

Sidney

Thataway

I gotta ticket ta ride...

A time to reflect...Prrrrrr

PORT RENFREW LOOP, Highway to Hell

DAY 5, Mon. July 24, 2017
Port Renfrew to Victoria, Dist, 103km, Avg 18.9km/hr, Ride time 5:45, Total incl. breaks and sightseeing 7hrs

I woke to the sound of crashing waves. Normally, wonderful, however, the sound was so intense that it freaked me out. I thought that the tide was coming in and I was gonna be swept away. It's a good thing that I got up abruptly as clean up took a while.

I headed to the the low key cafe "Tomis" for a huge omelette and a bucket of coffee. I sat out on the patio where I could listen to the conversations of visitors and locals. There was a busload of West Coast Trail participants or would be participants (I think the latter as they didn't look like their souls were crushed)
https://www.westcoasttrail.com/

The ride out of town was nothing but climbing. Funny how that happens whenever I start at sea level, ha ha, sigh. The road conditions were nice for a bit as I passed several huge clearcuts. Unfortunately, the road became progressively worse. There was no shoulder at all. In fact, the road (HWY 14) was cut right on the white line, sometimes on the inside of the line. This was the worst cycling experience that I have ever logged. I have cycled all over Canada from coast to coast and never saw such crap. There were situations where I would have to bail if a truck approached or if two opposing vehicles converged at my location.
It was nice to take a break at "French Beach" for lunch and relaxation.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/french_bch/#PicnicAreas
There was a huge grassy area with a few picnic tables. I made one my own for 30 min or so. This area overlooked a huge beach that had access via stairs. We had a gander, then hit the "Highway To Hell"...

As we neared Sooke, we passed a small town called Otter Point. The properties overlooked the ocean. They were beautiful homes painted brightly which reminded me of homes I rode by in Quebec and New Brunswick. They were spaced far apart along the Saint Lawrence River.

It was a fantastic feeling to enter Sooke. A bike lane suddenly appeared and the stress fell to the wayside. Thank God of Roads! A bike lane is sweet of coarse, but having a 28 inch shoulder is all I need. Anyway, sure beats the 75km or so of white knuckle riding.

On route to the Motel, I had some minor direction issues. I stopped at a gas station to look at a map and ask to be pointed in the right direction. "Pillsbury Doughboy Bob" gas attendant pissed me off when he said cycling was pretty much the same as driving. It's amazes me how many ignorant people are out there. Anyway, It was a fairly short easy ride to my safe place which had all my needs close by. Awesome! And they are known fondly as Beer and Pizza.
I was so happy to get settled in as this was one of my most stressful rides ever.

Leaving Port Renfrew

Lovely road so far

Chop Chop

Chop Chop Chop

HWC was confused at this destruction

My GPS

My mom would be confused

There was no shoulder at all. As we got closer to civilization, traffic increased and the ride became treacherous.

The beach below

Picnic time!

A well deserved break indeed

 Gorge Waterway Trail to Victoria was an awesome break from nasty traffic.

Home!

"This map is Evil!"

PORT RENFREW LOOP, Pacheedaht Camp Veg Day

DAY 4, 07 23 2017
Rest Day, beachcomber style...

Got up early, spent lots of time enjoying this great camping experience with some photo moments. Had coffee dialed in as well. HWC wanted to go surfing but I convinced her to mellow out on a hot rock instead. She growled at first and then purred profusely.
After sufficient veging, we head up to "Avater Grove"
https://www.ancientforestalliance.org/directions-avatar-grove.php
http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=33
The road was paved for most of the way but eventually got pretty nasty for a steel frame road bike. A steep gravel road with switchbacks and potholes. Not fun, but we were excited to be on an excursion. The weather was great too.
Once we got to the parking area, I cable locked Shirley and headed up the trail to the special tree. It felt pretty cool to be accessing this treasure via bike among a group of cars.  Avatar Grove has an upper section where the "Gnarly Tree" exists and a lower area that has a loop trail where you can see all sorts of old growth. Visiting Avatar Grove was a unique and enlightening experience. The trees were amazing. I kind of rushed the visit as I wanted to do other things.
On the way out, I encountered a vehicle that was selling T-Shirts and concert related things. There was a rock festival in the area earlier. " Tall Tree Music Festival" I bumped into this guy more than once. I didn't buy anything...
https://talltreemusicfestival.com/2017/about/

 https://www.portrenfrew.com/botbeach.htm
After some eats and a little snooze, I ripped over to Botanical Beach to take in some marine wonders.

I was here many years ago. At the time, there was a very rough "road" down to the tide pools. I was traveling from Ontario and saw this low clearance route and decided to take my old 77 GMC Vandura down. I got a little ways down, but had to pull over as the conditions were more monster truck friendly. Walked the rest.
This time I was on my bike and the whole area has been developed. It's a walking trail. It was longer than I expected. I aborted the mission as it was getting late so I turned around. Rats.
Went to the Cafe for overpriced eats, then some beer and junk at the general store. $40.00! Arrgh.
Back at the site for photos, beer and I made myself a cool "beer cooler"

This was a good day and I was so excited to re-visit Port Renfrew after many years.

Road to Avatar Grove. It was nastier than it looks.

99.9% of people drive to this trail head

Heading up

The Gnarly tree

Lower Avatar Grove bike parking

Tree Gnome

Me holding up a big tree, no charge

Forest

Another crazy tree

T Shirt guy.

Bridge out of old growth forest

Poser at my cool site

Beach to our selves

Beach spaghetti

Cats Ass poser

Storage cooler

View

Game of Thrones Reinactment

Hey look ma!

Chillin

Crab

View

Pacificat

PORT RENFREW LOOP: Valhalla!

Day 3, Sat, 07 22 2017
Cowichan Lk. to Pacheedaht Campground Port Renfrew
Dist. 60km, Avg, 19.7km/hr, Max 59km.

The ride ahead was part of the reason for this trip's inception. I never knew that there was a solid link between Cowichan Lake and Port Renfrew. So when I discovered that the logging road was paved and offered a good link to the coast, I was happy to plan this trip.

   Pacific Marine Rd. was the link. I visited Port Renfrew 20 years or so ago and I always wanted to return. When I started my ride I was nervous and excited at the same time. As the route cuts through total wilderness, I was concerned about bears. (I am a scaredy cat) The ride was great and I was extremely excited to get a campsite at Pacheedaht Campground on the west coast beach. I was so excited to be there that I bought a T shirt at the site office. "Port Renfrew is the Cat's Ass"
I secured a fairly hidden area to call my own. Awesome spot! I got set up and then pushed Shirley through the sand to the access trail and rode into town for goodies.

It was maybe 5 km into "town". There isn't a heck of a lot in Port Renfrew.  My go to was the General Store which had beer and basic food etc.
I had lunch at "Coastal Kitchen". After dealing with asshole pickup trucks, I thought that I might have a nice peaceful snack and coffee. No luck. The most annoying young family on earth set up right next to me. New dad was constantly making loud Googoo Gahgah sounds. It was pathetic and I tried so hard to stay calm. I couldn't handle it so I left the patio to finish my coffee outside the structure. I guess that I had a "Follow Me" sign on my back because that's what the moron family did. Aaaarrrrggghhh!!

Anyway, I was happy to get back to my new beach site with cold beers and a lovely sunset.
Simply amazing. No annoying humans here, just a demanding cat.
Miles of driftwood and there is a fire ban, even on a beach. Oh well, at least I have a stellar view, beer and privacy. Oh...and a cat.

Road less traveled

Damn wildlife better lookout!

Nobody here

Clearcut

Bridge dwellers

Road to the native campground

Pacheedaht camp office

Trail to my site...

The neighborhood

Our site

The Pacific calls

Nature's artwork

Our homestead from a distance