TO READ OUR JOURNEY FROM THE BEGINNING, click here - YOU'RE DOING WHAT???
I have one hour at the local library to finish a post for 4 days....this will be interesting!
We left our Lake Shawnigan hosts with a few gifts (water toys) for the girls (these families are so incredibly nice and generous, it is unreal!) Ian works for a toy store in Duncan and we planned to visit him in a few days when we head down that way. A toy store seems like a great destination for the girls on a trip like this....they can buy something but it has to be small enough to fit in their little backpacks, perfect!
After some tea with our hosts on their great balcony, we set off to find the Cowichan Valley Trail (CVT) which would be our route for the next 4 days. Luckily, we only had to ride 2 miles on the windy road with no shoulder and then we were on the CVT.
It is an old abandoned rail line so the ride would prove to be mostly flat with a slight 1 - 2% uphill grade all the way to Lake Cowichan, our next destination. Not far in we came upon the breathtaking Kinsol Trestle. It has only been restored within the last few years, and is a treasure to the people in the area (and us tourists riding out to Lake Cowichan)
This is also the first place we see the TransCanada Trail signs! Our original plan to ride ALL THE WAY to Nelson, BC, seems so incredibly far away now. for those of you who did not know, we had planned to take the TCT all the way to Nelson - about 1000 miles. As I planned our trip out, with writing directions to each little destination, I discovered that the TCT past the area of Hope is just an absolute disaster with lots of ATV use and washboard, rutty, sandy sections....and lots of wilderness.
I quickly went with my gut and figured that 4 or 5 days in the backcountry with no services for 100's of miles was not going to be much fun for the girls (or us for that matter!!) that was when our plans changed and why we are headed to the Sunshine Coast and the San Juan Islands instead!
Hmmm.....desolation with grizzly bears, cougars and no food, or cool cities with coffee shops and ice cream parlors......not a hard choice (Paleo is on hold, if you are wondering!!)
the trail was 33 miles of beauty and inspiration (and sore bums!) we cycled 8 miles farther than we originally planned so that we could stay in Lake Cowichan for 3 nights instead of 2. We figured, at a lake, relaxing, having some down time would be nice since we had been GO GO GO since the start.
We passed a great playground about 12 miles in where the girls could play and we could have some lunch. We were planning on just stopping on the side of the trail and eating in the dirt and I kept telling Jill, "When we get to 12 miles we will stop..." so then, at 11.89 miles this beautiful playground just comes out of nowhere. there had been nothing before it, and nothing after it....just hills, streams and berry bushes.....and then RIGHT before we were stopping, this amazing park appears. Just incredible.
After lunch, we set back on the road and within 2 miles as we rode along a black bear cub popped out of the bushes ahead of us - quite a ways off - kinda checked us out for a bit and then wandered off. SO COOL!!!! Another few miles (all easy uphill grade) and we reached the town. Another mile and a half (not so easy - very steep uphill) and we made it to the campground where we could have base camp for 3 days. YAY!!!
If you can believe it, we dropped our gear, set up camp and rode back into town to explore. It is SUCH a joy to ride around without all the bags. that way we are pulling about 60# for me and 90# for Shane. It makes SUCH a difference. We had dinner at a local spot and then headed back to camp and all of us went to bed at 8:30. We had spent 4 hours and 10 minutes on our bikes that day. Pretty exhausting....
the next morning we woke up early, and the girls and I set off for an adventure. There is no way to tire these girls out, so we left shane to read in the hammock and just walked toward the waterfront of the campground.
We came upon a great trail that lead through a beautiful forest. the unfortunate part of trips like this is that we have no way of getting a hold of each other when we go our separate ways. so 9:30, the girls and I wander off and tell Shane we are going adventuring and at 11:30 we are still gone when it starts to pour. The girls and I had brought a tiny bit of food and no rain gear, but they were just playing in the sand of a resort we ended up at and happy as could be....I just had no way of letting Shane know we were fine.
He wasnt worried, though. We know what "adventuring" means and it usually is no less than 3 hours and we make due no matter what ends up happening. The girls and I headed back around noon and informed Shane that we were headed into town for some "treats".
If you know anything about Canada, you will know that this is a Tim Hortons. Nothing like some coffee and donuts in the late afternoon on a rainy day after hiking for 3 hours We got coffee....the girls got donuts. (Shane and I are not exactly following Paleo - but we are not eating donuts either...)
The rain really started to come down after Tim Hortons so we found the local library (where the girls can happily spend 3 - 4 hours) and spent the rest of the afternoon there. It ended up pouring for most of the day, but we had a great time in the warm library. We ended up losing track of time, so our original plan to make some eggs and sausage back at camp turned into another dinner out at a burger shack. Shane and I had the best Caesar salad EVER, and then we cycled back to camp in the pouring rain. The girls took a 20 minute shower - quite entertaining for some reason?? and then we herded them off to bed (their typical bedtime being 9:30 or so....sleep deprivation at its finest on this vacation)
Our last day here we were really hoping for some sun so the girls could swim in the lake, but it just wasnt meant to be. More rain in the morning, which was fine since we planned a trip to the local skating rink. When we got there it was empty and we asked the guy how crowded it gets and he said, "Most likely it will be the 4 of you the whole time!!"
You can imagine how fun this was! Our rink is always PACKED so to have a rink double the size and be the only ones there was amazing. We skated for about 45 minutes, playing races, and train and pulling each other around and in circles and then the guy running the place asked if we wanted to use th hockey stuff for free....Um...YES!!!! Wow, that was fun. Jill was so cute, saying, "You be the goaler!" We all had a blast skating around and playing hockey. 
When open skate ended at 1 we headed over to the city park for lunch and wouldnt you know it...it started to rain again. Luckily they get a lot of rain so there are sheltered picnic areas. We ate a lot of food and the girls even swam for a tiny bit in the sprinkles, but it was just too cold. we headed back to the library where I read to the girls for a few hours and then back to camp where the girls found TONS of kids to play with until bedtime. This was a Friday night so the place was packed, people partying until 2 am (one of MANY reasons why we typically stay away from campgrounds at lakes!) but luckily we all sleep soundly! Maybe because we use so much energy during the day, but beer pong at 2am at a campground does not sound like fun to us!!!
Tomorrow we head out to Duncan to stay with a lovely couple who have offered to take us on a guided tour of the city of Totem Poles. Life is good!
NEXT BLOG: WARM SHOWERS - WONDERFUL PEOPLE
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