Pete and Ian Hit the Road » Vancouver Island

Tofino to Victoria: 73 Miles

Peter — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:56:49 +0000

The view from Pip and Dave’s cabin in Tofino.

Surfers of Tofino brave the cold unforgiving pacific waves.

Camping at Ruckle Provincial Park, Salt Spring Island, Vancouver Island.

In honour of HM Queen Victoria, who named British Columbia, don’t you know.

Vancouver to Tofino, 147 miles

Ian — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:38:43 +0000

Our trip down the coast to San Diego starts with a detour from the planned route – heading west to Tofino. Our friends, Pip and Dave, are currently holidaying on Vancouver Island and kindly offered their spare sofa bed for three days in their Tofino cabin. We looked at the map and calculated we could make it there in three days – the only problems being the mountains and long stretches of uninhabited road. First up, cycle to the port and the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.

Finally made it to the beautiful Long Beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

My Kinda Toon: Camping on Newcastle Island

Peter — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:40:04 +0000

Our first day’s riding took us over to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. When I spotted a little island just off the harbour called Newcastle Island I couldn’t resist booking us in there for our first night’s camp.

Watch out for the raccoons. Apparently they have learned how to open zips and will happily sneak in to your tent and wander out with your backpack. No backpacking raccoons were spotted on the island while I was there.

A Little History

Coal was discovered on Newcastle Island, but none of the locals had any knowledge or experience of how to mine it. So they put a call in and shipped over a whole load of miners from Newcastle, England to set up a mining operation there.

Lesson Learned

If you want a job doing properly, bring in the Geordies!