Tuesday in summer means 'bike ride' and with a high of 28C today that meant 'early morning bike ride'. We were off before 9AM along the E+N trail. I'm ready for the Lochside trail next week, with its two big hills on the way out of downtown, but this week I wanted one more chance to get my legs working.
Cindy and I have two different weather apps on our phones with wildly different forecasts. Her iPhone runs 5C hotter than mine year round. But it makes total sense once you get out on the bike. Riding along the harbour in Esquimault was lovely, with a cool, humid breeze coming off the water. Then as we turned inland ol' Sol started doing his thing and my back was burning bright within 20 minutes.
Today's nature highlight was two young deer on the train tracks parallel to the bike path. We missed our turnoff because we were focused on the deer but it was well worth it.
Other than that, it was watching the plant life deal with the hot dry weather. The stand of devil's paintbrush are fading a bit, but the rest of the plants seem to be resilient. And all the lizards on the pavement are loving the heat.
After a picnic snack at the junction with the Galloping Goose trail, we headed for home as quickly as we could, lingering for a bit in that cool ocean breeze on Kitma road. We were back in plenty of time to watch the first Euro semi-final.
After supper, we took an evening walk along Dallas Road toward the breakwater and saw a mama deer and young one in the tall grass. We had the best angle with the sun in our eyes, but I got ahead of them and took a couple of quick snaps before they went into the shadows.
Mama leading the way
Almost a perfect colour match