Barb, Lineah and I had made some very loose plans to go camping some time during this last summer. Conflicted schedules did the trip in, but fortuitously my friend Brent was able to get a couple of days off and so he headed over to Victoria from Vancouver and we set off up the island not knowing if we had a place to pitch the tent or not. We were going to cycle from Vancouver Island, across Denman to Hornby.
Half way to our destination I got a call from Lineah that Yes, she was home and Yes we could stay at her place the night if we agreed to go up to Campbell River and pick up a new bed for her daughter. This seemed a cheapest hotel I could imagine and though I like sleeping in tents a bed is always preferable.
Having secured the bed to the top of the truck and having avoided being shot by the rifle we found laying under it, "Oh. that's supposed to be in the gun locker", the bed seller quipped, we headed back to Courtney for dinner supplies. This night's bbq dinner was somewhat less eventful than the time Barb and I almost set Lineah's house on fire and we all had a good night's sleep.
In the morning Brent and I geared up and headed off on our trip. Pretty much right after ferry dock on Denman we hit The Big Hill. I wasnt' worried as I've biked large hills around Victoria lots of times and the key is a slow and steady pace with low gearing. I prefer to stand as it gives me more push, but with less weight over the rear wheel traction is decreased. I believe that's it generally the way peopel lacking leg muscle do it. The Big Hill is NOT big... IT'S HUGE! Up I went... good good good... what's this odd breating? Why's it so hard to breath? Why can't I bloody well breath! And then my foot slipped off the pedal. The trudge up the rest of the hill was made worse by Brent having already crested the thing and having had to wait for me at the top. Then of course he had to wait longer as I sat on the side of the road and for the first time in my life hyper-ventilated. Scary damned stuff and embarassing too.
I recovered shortly and the rest of the trip across Denman was much much easier. As we were approaching the ferry landing to Hornby Brent nonchalantly mentioned he was pretty sure ther was an easier way across the island. OH REALLY!
The first stop for photos was located roughly at the midpoint on Hornby Island; a lovely bakery and gift shop set in a park-like setting with flowers everywhere.
We had some tea, ate some pastry (I really did need to recover from The Big Hill), did some shopping and then continued on to Tribune Bay. This beach is the main beach on Hornby Island and is very shallow, allowing it to get quite warm during the summer months. People were enjoying the sun all over the beach and we stopped to take some pictures. The rocks on this beach are amazing. It's like some prehistoric wonderland There was an odd smell of rotting seaweed and something else so we didn't stay long. The Island has another beach on offer.
Little Tribune Bay is the other large beach. It's not so sandy as Tribune Bay but there are less people and definatley less children. This is probably due to the clothing optional use the area gets. Of the people we did see it seemed an easy mix of clothed and nude people and there were few enough sun bathers that everyone had their own stretch of beach to enjoy. Little Tribune has a few houses almost right on the beach and one old guy came out onto his porch to enjoy the sun in all his naked wrinkled glory. I'm sure Brent was mortified. I spend most days after work, all summer long naked at Prior Lake so none of this stuff bothered me.
After a nice afternoon in the sun we went and had lunch at a small outdoor restaurant. It reminded me of a treehouse. The sandwiches were good and the lemonade was the real deal! We rode back over the island and just made the ferry back to Denman as it was about to leave. I took some pictures of us leaving the dock.
Back on Denman I made a point of stopping to take some pictures of the Scottish longhaired cattled I'd seen on the way over to Hornby. We'd been in a hurry to get to the ferry so stopping wasn't so smart on the way over... This time I insisted and I'm glad I did. These cows looked so entirely comical with their long bangs and munching away. The bull, though incredibly huge, was uncooperative. He was in his own enclosed area and was also eating but totally disinterested in posing for me or even looking my way.
After taking some shots of the cows we took the easier route Brent had been recalling from years past when he used to visit Hornby Island a lot. It was indeed far easier and we sped along at a nice clip. Brent was racing trying to catch the fairy to Vancouver Island but I was intent to get even more photos from the outting. He eventually spied some goats... which wouldn't be all that interesting other than the fact that they were being used to mow the grass on a golf course. The Patrons of the golf course included a group of men only yards away from the goats and a dog romping about.
When we got to the east side of Denman Island we found the weather was turning foul. A storm was threatening and it looked like we were going to get wet. I had been smart and packed my shell and my long cyclng pants. These went on as we had a bit of a wait. My dawdling had caused us to miss one boat and the coffee truck by the dock had just closed up shop. Water and trailmix it was! Inclement though the weather wanted to be I still got some good shots.
It had begun to rain finally just as we approached Lineah's house so we avoided a soaking. She was home again having attended to some errands and so we chatted a bit before heading back down island to my house. Brent stayed the night and I took him out to the ferry in the morning as he had a birthday bash to attend. The trip was short but it was sweet.
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