Go back to Day 1
Rathtrevor Provincial Park -> Miracle Beach
Day 2 was set to be a bigger day, over 100km. Fortunately, I was able to get an early start, thanks to turning down the Whiskey offer the previous evening..
I made the executive decision to hit the road right away, without eating breakfast. Mostly I felt like I had a big distance to cover, and I wanted to ‘earn’ my breakfast with a big, early push. That plan was scuttled early on, when I came across an apple tree offering me its delicious crop.
So with first breakfast out of the way, I continued winding my way northwest. I was able to avoid the highway for most of the way through Qualicum beach on some great back roads and bike paths (sorry, no photos)
Getting through Courtenay included lots of short bike paths. By the end of it, I was wishing I didn’t need to spend so much time with my nose in my phone/map. Also, it was dawning on me, that I really don’t have a great sense of direction, when there is somewhere specific I’m trying to get to. Fortunately, on the far side of Courtenay there was a wonderful back road (Old Headquarters Road) that not only had more apples, but also some yummy late season blackberries. Bliss!
As I was getting close to Miracle Beach, I was experiencing much cramping in my legs (thighs and calfs) I was able find a way to ride that wasn’t too painful. I was very happy to see the registration area, but there was trouble ahead…
When I got to the campground, there was a long slow moving line to register. Before this moment, I had mentally scoffed at the idea of planning mundane details like camp site reservations. When it was my turn, I learned all the ‘First come, first served’ sites had been taken. I was also getting mixed messages from two park employees (who I later learned were mother and daughter.) Daughter was telling me the only way I could reserve a reservable site was to either call BC Parks or go to the web site. But then mom told me, she could register me, but all the reservable sites were booked. Eeek. (and this was a Thursday, I was getting worried how things would go when the weekend arrived.) But then daughter told mom the three walk in sites were still available and I could have the single walk-in site. At this point, I thought I’d see if I could also reserve it for the following night, just so I wouldn’t have to sleep in a ditch.
Turns out the site I was in was reserved by somebody else for the following night. Fortunately I was able to book one of the other walk-in sites for Friday night. Double phew!
Now that I had Thursday and Friday nights booked at Miracle Beach, I decided I would do a Friday day trip up to Quadra Island. I was hoping to meet up with a friend who lived there (Marnie) and also, just see/experience a place where my grandmother lived for a few years in the 1920’s
Go to Day 3