Cindy wanted to go for a bike ride today. That was always the plan. But I woke up early to lots of cloud and wind, so I figured we'd have to find a Plan B. But the wind dropped and the sun came out, so we hopped on the bikes around 10AM and headed to the Lochside trail.
Aside from a slippy seat post, I managed pretty well on the way out. We found a new spot to rest right after the killer Uptown Overpass and then carried on to Mattick's Farm. A storm overnight had thrown all kinds of debris onto the bike path, so we were often riding over a thick mat of leaves, pine needles and small twigs. It was brilliant. It smelled like Christmas and I wanted to set up a tent right in the middle of it all.
We were still feeling feisty, so decided to carry on an extra 5km to Michell's Farm to check out the pumpkin patch. This is the most beautiful part of the entire ride. First you cycle through a long, straight, heavily forested path, then come out onto farmland, cycling alongside vegetable and flower gardens all the was to the big blue market building. One field was recently plowed and was covered with hundreds and hundreds of geese and ducks feeding on whatever the plow had turned up. That was one loud field! Across the road, I watched a hawk swoop down low to the ground and track along a small canal, looking for food. The whole ride was excellent, although I noticed that by this point we had a heavy breeze at our back. We'd face that on the way home.
Right after leaving Michell's Farm, we met a young couple dealing with a flat tire, and stopped to lend them our pump. They didn't have a tube that fit, so I patched the old tube and eventually got them going again. It took at least 45 minutes though (we tried three different solutions before patching the tube!) and we were totally cooled down by the time we got back riding. So the ride home was slow and at times, difficult. And then Cindy got a flat right before the Gorge trestle! We pumped her tire up and she sprinted home before it flattened again.
It was a brilliant, 10/10 ride, but my goodness we were tired when we got home. We were out for over five hours in total. We had a very late lunch, popcorn for supper, and crashed on the couch for the evening with full body contentment.
a magical path
We made it to the farms of Saanichton