The Final leg of the Vancouver Island Ride

After spending the night at the Art and Soul B & B, (with a marvelous dinner at the
"Rocking Horse Inn Pub" -- very, very, English, don't you know!) we took off for Victoria by Sag-wagon as this was my day off from riding. I was the designated "Driver" as Mo had been crawling at 10-15 miles per hour, keeping an eye out for me and coaching me all the way.(One quite amusing incident occurred as I was riding by Mo(the coach), she called out to me telling me to drink water. As she called out, another cyclist passed me and immediately took out his water bottle and started drinking!!)
Arrived in beautiful Victoria with the old English-style Buildings and Hanging Baskets of the most colorful flowers,and of course great PUBS. "Suds" Blumenthal was in his element!! We were hosted again by Mo's family for the 2 days that we spent in Victoria.
Took 2 great rides through Oak bay and Cadboro bay, which were spectacular, riding along the water past small-boat harbors, beautifully landscaped gardens and great houses with incredible views of the ocean and the Olympic mountain range across the water on the mainland USA (Olympic Peninsula WA.) We stopped at a lovely cafe along the water and next to a fishing pier and watched the action while we had a bite and wonderful coffee.(By the way, the coffee bars and the motel room coffees were outstanding especially when compared with the US motels!!)
Left Victoria in the afternoon after taking the Ferry to Port Angeles WA and then started the final 60 Kilometers. Drove to Lake Crescent, a Sapphire-Blue half-moon lake to knock your socks off, and then rode along the Sol Duc river with fast-flowing waterfalls and through Red Cedar, Hemlock, and Maple forests to the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, where we spent the night in a cabin. Soaked in a natural "Sulfurous"hot tub to help my hard- working legs and joints recover after a long uphill ride, and to calm Mo's frayed nerves!!
The Last stretch was back to Lake Crescent (Mostly Downhill) where we found a
great campsite on the edge of the lake where we set up camp for the night to sleep under the stars SANS tent. Some terrific neighbors gave us firewood for a lovely campfire; had dinner with a delicious bottle of red wine, given to us by another friendly tourist we met at a B & B in Trinidad and celebrated our wondrous Vancouver Island adventure.
I must comment that Mike's Black Mountain Bike was fantastic allowing me to climb some very difficult hills,and behaving beautifully on the Down-hills and what's more NOT ONE FLAT TIRE!!( Averaged 33miles/54 kilometers per day and 14 days of riding) Also, the weather was perfect all the way (no rain, never too hot, no strong wind, and when there was a breeze it was behind me!) I also want to thank all who sent encouraging e-mails and Blog-comments and to say we had a ball doing this
great ride.
CIAO from Joe and Mo.

ONLY 100 CLICKS (KILOMETERS) TO GO !!

Campbell River is a most delightful town -- very pretty, clean, with wide streets,
spectacular vistas of ocean, snow-capped mountains,and sail boats in quaint small harbours. We spent two nights in CR., and for my "rest" day from riding, took a ferry
to nearby Quadra island, where I did a 20 mile ride!! (Not very restful as the Island
roads were somewhat "Rolling"). Visited the Lighthouse that we could see from our motel in CR.
From CR the return journey Southward began. Once again the trip to Courtnay was fabulous as I had the wind behind me; the weather was as clear as a bell; the ocean could not have been any deeper blue, and the road was less busy as the Holiday weekend traffic was gone.
As we needed to get some more miles to complement the Northward trip, decided to try and camp at a lake called Lake Cowichan . However, the road there turned out to be a 60 mile per hour "Route 1" type highway with Loaded logging trucks, the Lake was overcrowded,
the campground was not pleasant, and "The Irish Pub" was CLOSED.So the sagster stuck me back in the van and we went back to Chemainus to the same Motel as on the Northern ride (a 45 mile day).
Today we left Chemainus(which is famous for the large murals around the town) and trekked Northward again to go to a marvelous B and B called the "Art and Soul" which is owned by an artist couple who do Pottery.However the
return trip was done so that we could revisit the Fairwinds golf club restaurant which serves THE BEST STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING in the world!! not to mention the fact that it also has my favourite SUDS on TAP!!. The ride was beautiful as we took a side road via a small "point" to get to the restaurant and then to the B and B.
Tomorrow we will return to Victoria for a few days to spend some time with Mo's cousins.I will then do the famous "Galloping Goose" bike trail which I believe is about 30 miles long.Will report to you from the road when we complete the last "leg" of the 760 Clicks.
Till then,
Ciao (from the "bikester and sagster )