Ferry to Vancouver Island

10th June: Vancouver, BC to Port Alberni, BC

Odometer: 109.5km, Start: 8.30am, Finish: 6.45pm, Avg: 19.4 km/h,
Weather: Cool and cloudy, rain am, Temp: 11-18°C
Road Conditions: Good tarmac and wide shoulders mostly. Unfortunately, quite a lot of traffic throughout. 

I rode away from the West End of Vancouver and headed for Stanley Park and Lion’s Gate Bridge for my “official start”. It was a bit rainy and cold, so I didn’t hang about, just a quick snap of the bridge and I was on my way!

Lion’s Gate Bridge

I’d planned to ride along Marine Drive in North Vancouver instead of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH), because I thought it would be “scenic and quiet”. Unfortunately it was neither and it didn’t have a shoulder either! Probably safer on the TCH.

I made Horseshoe Bay by 9.45am for the 10.30am ferry departure to Nanaimo. I now know that Nanaimo isn’t pronounced Nana-imo as I thought, but Na-nai-mo! Ferry crossing was smooth, but couldn’t see much because of low cloud, although it did clear up approaching land.

Land Ahoy! Nanaimo.

I rode along the #19A to Parksville before heading west on the #4. I’ll be on this road for the next 3 days! Traffic was moderate on both roads, again more than I was expecting and the scenery took a while coming too. Finally I reached Cameron Lake, the first picturesque bit of the day. After that I rode through nice pine forests surrounded by rounded hills, but still a lot of low, clinging cloud.

3 days on this road to get back to this point!

I wanted to get to Port Alberni for the evening as this left manageable days to Tofino and back. I was in for a shock though, as I’d entirely forget about the steep mountain pass you have to go up and over to get to Port Alberni. It was quite a few kilometres in length and felt 10% for most of it’s length. I struggled a bit with the climb at the end of the day and had some cramp issues at the top of my legs after the summit.

Cameron Lake

It was quite late when I rolled into Port Alberni. I bought some food to cook, but my cramped legs were stiffening up and it was cooling down. I’m still not adjusted to Canada time yet either, so I was pretty mentally-tired despite the ride not being that physically demanding. I decided to find a motel and get the legs sorted out. I felt better after a bath and self-massage and cooked my pasta and tuna one pot meal outside in front of the door. My first one pot meal! It was nice too!