Day 440
Todd to the rescue
Well, we’ve spent months looking forward to our time with family and it didn’t disappoint, but all good things come to an end and we were back on the road. We cheated as Carole and Stan kindly offered to take our bags, which meant an easy 30+ hilly miles to the ferry for us! We went so fast we had time to say goodbye to Tom’s brother, Big Jim, and cousin Mark, who were on an earlier ferry! Anyone fancy driving around the world carrying our luggage!?
The ferry ride didn’t disappoint. Stunning views, then yet another ferry, back to Nanaimo once again. We didn’t linger but headed on to our Warmshowers hosts for the evening. We took a shortcut along a decommissioned road, fantastic, no traffic! Our hosts, Warrick and Jan, were fantastic. We arrived late but were fed and watered, we chatted into the evening, learning all about their 7-year trip around the world in the 70s.
After a very late depart (so much to talk about) we set off for ferry No.19. We had a new route thanks to Warrick and Jan’s advice and were soon in Duncan. Komoot bypassed the town, but we decided to have a look around and thank goodness we did. There were totem poles everywhere! Even more importantly there was an opticians, Station Street Eyecare. My glasses had snapped and as I’m extremely short-sighted this was quite an issue. I went in, explained the situation and the owner Todd, star that he is, came to the rescue. From the drawer of warranty items he produced a Versace frame, popped in my lens and all was clear again! No charge, what a guy! Todd also mentioned we needed to get a move on if we wanted to catch the last ferry of the day!
Off we briskly went. We crossed yet another trestle on another fantastic trail on another awesome disused railway line, fantastic traffic-free cycling then back to the road. Now, as you know Tom likes the road less travelled, so instead of staying on a perfectly fine bit of tarmac we headed off onto another decommissioned road. However, access to the road was barred and rather than turn around we headed onto the ‘hydro-highway’. Basically, a very rough track uphill next to the electricity pylons. Easy going it was not. Finally, we re-joined the barred road, it was fantastic if somewhat bramble covered. Then a minor problem, a concrete barrier saying stop across the road. So, we stopped lifted our bikes over it and onwards. Ah, now we hit the next barrier, a metal fence, 30ft high, and locked! No problem for the intrepid duo with a ferry to catch, and after a slight diversion into the woods we were free! A final 5 minutes downhill and we even arrived early for the ferry. Todd, my hero of the day was there and we had a great catch up with the latest member of our ‘road family’.
