Ah, nothing like sleeping in. I woke up at 7 am, had a
couple of cups of coffee while my clothes went through the clothes drier, had a
generous breakfast, and by 9 am I was ready to roll. It had rained overnight,
and the sky was overcast and drizzly, so I put on my rain poncho and started on
my way back down the peninsula. I made a couple of stops so I could say I had
taken a look at the west coast of the island, and finally reached the end of
the peninsula at the town of Ucluelet .
Besides its impossible name the town is quite modest, but to me it seemed like
Shangri-La because at that time the sun made its glorious appearance. All of a
sudden the shingle beach looked like the best place on Earth, so I took the
opportunity to get rid of the rain gear, exuding optimism as to the day ahead
of me.
I started on my way across the island, along the same way I
had come yesterday. Ah, but what a difference! The mountain peaks now are
snow-clad, the forests shimmer in the sun, and along the canyons flow foaming
streams. Now I remember why I thought that scootering in the mountains should
be such a feel-good experience.
On the way I stopped at an old grove of Douglas firs, one of
which is a giant more than 400 ft tall and over 800 years old. Did you know
that Douglas was a field naturalist who sent
hundred of plant specimens to various universities to have them cataloged?
Besides the eponymous fir tree, there are 50 other plant species named after
him. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Once I reached the east coast I eschewed the highway in
favor of a smaller road that took me all along the coast. It was absolutely
perfect, particularly Qualicum Bay and Fanny
Bay
My ultimate destination for the day was Cumberland , which astonishingly is not along
the coast but a few kilometers inland. It is an OK little town, but I was
really wondering how it had managed to get an HI Hostel. It turned out to be a
private hostel, loosely associated to HI Hostels, that caters to mountain bike
enthusiasts. Most of them are fair-weather riders, however, so once again I had
the rare privilege of being the only guest in a hostel that is clearly meant to
host at least 50 people.
I welcomed the opportunity of spending my last night in
Canada in comfort, so after walking around town for a half hour I started
hunting for a supermarket where I could find something good to cook for dinner,
and for a liquor store where I could buy a bottle of wine (wine and liquor are
not sold in supermarkets in BC). Sadly the only place I could find for buying
food in small amounts was an organic products store, so I had to pay gold
powder for a small sausage, a side dish of vegetables, and a bag of chips. They
may be protecting Mother Earth, but they sure engage in the raping of humanity!
In any case, I had a good dinner, accompanied by a good
bottle of Pinot Grigio, and after I finish this blog I will indulge in a warm
bath (yes, the hostel has a tub!) and then head straight to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment