The True North Strong and Free
Although it is no longer a part of the
official, bilingual Canadian anthem I still cherish this phrase. It stirs my inner being somehow - despite feeling more Aussie than Canuck these days.
Dianne and I haven't been on holiday in Canada since 2012. There have been a couple of quick trips for family reasons but we haven't had time to roam the landscape and enjoy the natural beauty of the place.
Finally it's time for another visit. Funnily enough, the impetus for the trip is another,
happier family reason:
Mom (speaking
Canajun here)
is turning 90 on the 4th of May! Consequently (all going according to plan) we'll be leaving Hobart on the 2nd of May, arriving in Vancouver on the same day (time travel magic 😉) and heading over to "
the island". Hopefully, we'll be fresh and ready for whatever celebrations that might be planned for the big day. But in between arrival and birthday celebrations we'll get our bikes back together and on the road.
Let's Go Cycling/Tour de Vancouver Island
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| Mid Vancouver Island |
When we booked our trip there was a requirement to have a quarantine plan in place. In order not to endanger my Mom's health we booked an Air B'n'B in my old home town of
Comox for two weeks. After that we'll have a few days with Mom (if we're still COVID-free) before moving on.
Vancouver Island has about half the land area of Tasmania. We've got a bunch of rides planned in the local area, and may travel a little further afield while we're there. Amongst other choice riding, there's an
hors categorie climb up to the Mt Washington ski resort that we'd like to do if conditions are good. It's quite similar to the climb up kunanyi/Mt Wellington in that it starts from close to sea level and has beautiful views over islands and sheltered waterways, especially from the top and on the descent. Also, the old island highway is a bit like the road up the east coast of Tasmania in that it hugs the coastline and has great scenery. We've got
another ride planned that takes in that beautiful scenery. Depending on how we feel we might even do the
longer version. 🤞😁
The Main Game: Tour de Southern British Columbia
British Columbia is a bit bigger than New South Wales and a bit smaller than South Australia. The southern part in particular is full of towering peaks and beautiful rivers and lakes, with some farming and ranching country thrown in for good measure (but only about 3% of BC is considered arable). We're only visiting a minute part of the province but have a fairly ambitious plan of touring in mind, with road cycling the main focus and some hiking here and there for good measure. Along the way we'll also catch up with some good friends which will be a big part of our trip.
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| British Columbia and where we hope to spend our time |
Our Proposed Itinerary
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Stars on the map are numbered to indicate overnight stops in the order of the journey.
Stops vary in length from 1-7 nights, and we stop in two places on the Trans-Canada twice. |
From Vancouver Island we plan to catch the ferry directly across
Georgia Strait to Powell River. Then the idea is that we'll do bike/car relaying for as much of our trip as we can, apart from on major motorways like the Trans-Canada Highway. If all goes at least close to plan, we'll travel a bit more than 3,000 kilometres between leaving Powell River and arriving at Vancouver International Airport for the flight home. We've designed a route together that takes in places we've enjoyed travelling through and recreating in during past trips that we long to revisit. We've only done a tiny, tiny bit of riding in Canada before and have dreamt of doing a big trip like this for quite a while. Mostly we'll take turns between riding and driving but when we're staying more than one night in a place we'll be able to ride together (or go for a hike 😉).
Hopefully I'm not jinxing our plan by putting out this first blog post before we actually leave! It's not the ideal time of year in that we can expect cool conditions, and perhaps a fair bit of rain while we're on the coast. But at least school will still be in session and the roads quieter than come summer time.
Apart from my normal posts on
STRAVA I hope to make blog posts reasonably regularly to describe our journey for family and friends who are not specifically - or even particularly - interested in cycling.
But then again, there's bound to be a fair bit of cycling content, eh! If you're interested in what we're up to I hope these reports will be interesting and informative. B.C. is a marvellous place. Maybe our travels will inspire some of you to visit there yourselves for some cycling and hiking adventures.
