SALT SPRING ISLAND: day 8
Woke up on the dustier side of dusty. The van is absolute chaos too. Isaac made us eggs and toast for breakfast, then we hopped on the bikes to check out some of the trails up here. I still completely suck at mountain biking. I make it so much harder for myself by going slow, but it is SO SCARY. But also, I can see the appeal. Probably would’ve been good for me to to do it again, but we need to leave enough time to go to the brewery before we get the ferry back. So obviously, we will need to prioritise that.
Took extra time to secure everything in place in the van and said a little prayer we would make it back down the insane road with the tiny amount of fuel we have left. Sadly, we only made it 5 minutes before the van cut out. The hill was so steep the fuel couldn’t reach the fuel pump (apparently). Scratched our heads for a while about what to do. It’s a long walk/bike ride down this hill, let alone to the gas station, then practically impossible to bike back up with a jerry can full of fuel.
After 10 mins of head scratching, a local couple drove past and agreed to take Isaac to the gas station, then he could figure his own way back. They ended up driving him all the way back up the mental road; he was the first person they’d had in their car since COVID too. Canadians are so bloody nice.
A jerry can of fuel later, we tried again. The nice Canadians told us about a nice lake on the way down, would definitely be nice to have a dip. Not the easy 15 min walk we were promised, but rather a swampy bushwhack the whole way there. Again, not ideal in flip flops. The lake was beautiful and the dip was lovely, but climbed back into the van covered in scratches and stingy nettle welts, with stinky swamp mud up to our knees. Counterproductive is the word that springs to mind.
After a somewhat stressful morning, we treated ourselves to a proper lunch (sadly not enough time for the brewery now), decided we’d seen enough of Salt Spring, then caught the ferry back to the mainland. Saw a pod of orcas on the way back!!! Canadian sea-life viewing dream complete.
Treated ourselves again, to a proper campsite (real showers) in Chemainus, not the most thrilling of towns. Wandered down the river, had the longest shower in the world, did a load of laundry. Pesto pasta for dinner, then b e d.
