Not a particularly early start from the Painted Turtle guesthouse, after a jolly nice breakfast at the place round the corner.

Lovely and sunny again, and quiet roads to start with until we join Canada Highway 1, heading south. This is a large dual carriageway, but with a massive wide shoulder, and helpful bike signs ! It’s still got massive trucks carrying logs and the like on it, though, so it isn’t a particularly pleasant ride.

After a coffee and cake stop in Ladysmith (at the Town Bakery, Best Buns in Ladysmith), we peel off towards Chemainus on a quieter road, passing through Saltair, spotting eagles along the way.


A quick pitstop in Chemainus, and we’re on the final leg to the ferry terminal at Crofton.

Here, we get lost, passing our turn which is completely unsigned in our direction. After a five mile diversion and a quick chat with the locals, we arrive back at the junction and, in this direction, there’s a HUGE sign pointing us to the ferry. We arrive at about 2:10, just in time to miss the 2:05 ferry. So we have lunch, and I have a quick kip.

We arrive in Vesuvius Bay on Saltspring Island and then cycle over to Ganges. The campsite is advertised as being a kilometre outside town, but actually it’s more like a mile – and seriously uphill.

We camp, after borrowing a hammer to pound the pegs into the rock-hard dirt, then walk into town down the hill, have dinner, and walk back up again. Beer from the Saltspring Island Brewery eased the pain.
Lovely pics. x