You know a town is New Age when its named after the holiest river in India

Be prepared for the long one.

So I have been holed up in Ganges on Salt Spring Island for the last two days. It is I think the largest Gulf Island off Vancouver Island and is situated a about 40 miles from downtown Victoria, and has quite the liberal attitude to it. More coffee shops and book stores per capita than I have seen anywhere else. Unfortunately he almighty car still rules the road here and bicycling although not unpleasant would be sublime if there were some bike lanes and the cars didn't drive so damn fast. Perhaps you wonder why I linger here instead of moving on to the allegedly very British city of Victoria? I well fill you in.

After an off day in Nanaimo catching up on communications and taking in a bit off reading I set off down the road without really considering the route I should be taking as I had plenty of time to make it to Victoria and instead just sticking to the coast as much as I could. The morning was cool with cloud cover and I past over several bridges crossing the various rivers and streams B.C. is trying to restore so the Salmon will come back. Below is a shot down the Nanaimo river with the train truss and some boats just hanging out in mid air. I welcome any theories why.


A bit farther down the road I stopped at a roadside farmers market and bought lunch and stuff for dinner including an incredible looking berry pie, just a mini mind you. There I met a fellow cyclists touring with the same book as I and we swapped stories of out travels thus far and talked about the relative merits of our bikes (he rode a converted aluminum cross bike).

Just a few miles down the road the threatening clouds ceased their intimidation and let loose there torrents on me. I stopped and donned my rain gear and had scarcely gone another five miles when my rear tire blew out. I had just been boasting of how well my tires had been treating me on and off road to the cyclist back down the road. Go figure. Fortunately I was just at one of those awful roadside rest stops with all manner of fast food and gasoline, and there was an umbrella set up outside for me to work under. It took some time and three patches before I gave up on that tube and replaced it with another.

Back on the road I passed through Crofton before realizing my route was taking me to Salt Spring Island and through the town of Ganges where Tara had departed for that morning from Nanaimo to take hey kayaking guide test. At the left is a photo from the top deck you can make out my bike in the top left of the photo. I had just rolled up to a market with the intention of finding an internet site where I might drop her a line when I heard my name and she came up behind me. She said she had just arrived and was amazed that I had left Nanaimo later, spent 50 dollars less than her on public transport and arrived at about the same time. She said she had found a camp ground just outside of town and invited me to join her and I did.

We spent the evening much the same as in Nanaimo wandering the docks and comparing menus before settling on the OysterCatcher where I had a lamb burger that was incredible and would warrant a second trip. The next morning I awoke to find the berry pie I had bought had been devoured by the crows that had been annoying me since the early hours of the morning. Who would have thought the old adage to be true. I guess crows know a pie when they see it.


The next day she took me kayaking. She paid my rental fees and in return I let her practice her rescues on me which involved flipping upside down in my kayak and letting her help me back in. After the first terrifying flip I got used to the sensation and the water was actually pretty pleasant. The sun had come out after it had rained all night and been overcast all morning, and the whole experience was a really quite fun for my first turn in a kayak. The weather held all day and after taking showers and doing some laundry we went back to camp and turned in early. Up above is me reading while waiting for my laundry to dry. Here is a photo of our camp and one of Tara doing some last minute studying by lamplight.





The next day, yesterday now (I am finally caught up), Tara went off all day for her exam and I contented myself wandering about town, visiting the Saturday market, drinking coffee, and reading and writing. I finished the Hemingway book I bought in Nanaimo and started in on Billy Bud by Melville at Alex's suggestion. The style certainly took some getting used to after going down the ladder of grammatical complexity from Joyce to Hemingway and then being launched in to the antiquated and rambling prose of Melville. He does have a witty and often wry phrasing I find satisfying and often comic once I get used to it.

A day of sitting around all day had made me restless and so I took the bike out for a couple hours to tour the Island around sunset and these next photos are all from that ride.
























I had planned on moving down to Victoria but I let myself be convinced to stay on another day while Tara completed her exam so that we could have some fun tonight and tomorrow. The campsite is cheap and I like the little town of Ganges so it wasn't a hard decision. Besides my departure date from Port Angeles, has been moved back to the 8th leaving me with plenty of time to get to Victoria and from there it is a short ferry ride to Port Angeles. I am decked out in my cycling gear today and I am going out to do some of the modest peaks on the Island.