The Nomads

Left Granite Rock RV Park, BC

Temps: 24C

We had constant rain throughout the night but were quite comfortable in the tent. Luckily the weather had cleared enough by morning to allow us to have a breakfast of coffee, cheese, and herb foccacia and honey at the picnic table and we got all the gear packed and were away on the bike with hardly a drop of rain.

The sky by then had become overcast and was threatening more rain but all we got was a light mist for hardly more than a minute.

We miscalculated the ferry times and got to Saltery Bay two hours before the departure time, so we turned around and headed back to visit the Saltery Bay Provincial Park where we stopped and made coffee and caught up on some reading.

This park’s campsites were a big step up from where we had spent the night. It is a gorgeous park in a redwood forest right on the coast and has trails that go down to the water. The site we stopped at had a pretty little babbling brook that crossed down the back of it. Music to read by….

So relaxing there, and not another person in sight, it was like my Susie and I were the only ones on the planet!

The ferry ride was a visual treat and a nice break from the bike, and the road from Earls Cove to the Gibson’s Landing ferry to Horseshoe Bay was a winding steep-sided road reminding me of the fun rides we had in the mountains of Mexico.

“Slow down , you’re starting to scare me!” Susie was hollering from behind as I wound the bike out in consecutive layovers through the steep turns! Yahoo! What a rush!

We got to the second ferry over an hour early so we sat on a divider in the parking and broke out the books again.

This ferry crossing over to Horseshoe Bay was as delightful as the earlier crossing and had me imagining all kinds of potential kayak adventures for sometime in the future!

Once off the ferry at Horseshoe Bay the road was pretty much a full on multi lane expressway into Vancouver with not a lot of visual appeal.

We went into Vancouver looking for an MEC store and ended up at what appeared to be an MEC warehouse in North Van which was locked up tighter than Fort Knox! We thought we were headed to a retail store…..DUH!

By then it was getting dark and looking like rain so we were anxious to get to a campground to set up for the night. After two or three wild goose chases and false leads(why would anyone put up signs to campgrounds that don’t exist) we did succeed to find a campground in Langley but they were full up so they gave us directions to two other campgrounds within a half hour’s drive. We took a chance on the right one and got the last site in Livingstone Campgrounds just as it got dark.

We met a lot of bikers today at the ferry terminals, on the boat and at the campgrounds. BC is rife with motorcyclists; they’re as common as fleas on a stray!

I think I must have seen at least a hundred just today!

The weather held out and we managed to get the tent set up, do a wash, have showers, and poach a wireless connection without a drop of rain, although I think it will be as wet a night as last night. At least it’s warm…

Kilometres - Daytrip: 146km total: 24,658

Gas: $20 Ferry: $41.60

Lodging: Livingstone Campground $ 22