Saltspring Island

As you can see below the weather cleared up (more later) and the smoke disappeared so happy cyclists we are. The ride from Gabriola to Saltspring (two ferries) was smooth and uneventful as we detoured off Hwy #1 for most of it and rode through forests and farmland catching views of the sea here and there.

The B&B we booked is a former church renovated into two living spaces. It suited us fine, had a lovely garden, creaky church floorboards and some funky records from the 60/70s era.

We cycled a loop around the south end of the island the first day here and a north loop on the second. There are many, many studios, wineries, and farms of all kinds which invite you in as you buzz along on the country roads but we seldom stop as we can’t be consuming while riding and we don’t have space to carry sculpture or a lot of lovely root veggies on the bike. However we did stop for some goat cheese and ate our lunch at the Saltspring Island Cheese factory which was fun and educational.

Tara’s NICU nursing buddy from long ago lives on Saltspring with her family and a brand new grandchild courtesy of their daughter. We stopped for a great catchup visit and a peek at the new baby.

The north loop the next day had us riding more coastline as well as by the inland St. Mary’s lake. Another good ride to work up an appetite for our 36th anniversary dinner at the Hasting’s House. George booked this awhile ago and it was very good with a great manor house ambience and only ten minutes walk back to the B&B

Now we sit here getting prepped to catch the Mayne island ferry in the rain. The long forecast initial fall storm has arrived so we’re trying to assure our bags are double waterproofed (garbage bags and pannier covers). We expected some rain but of course were hopeful to avoid it. It appears we will be wet to close out this years trip.