PEDALING NORTH, THEN SOUTH

DAY 87

WEDNESDAY 29 JUNE 2016

REST DAY IN NANAIMO

I reckon "The Painted Turtle" seems like a bit of a gay name for a hostel.

For anything at all really, although it is the most common turtle species in North America apparently.

Silly name notwithstanding, it was a great place to spend a rest day, chilling out and beating the heat.

It would certainly rank amongst the better of the HI (Hostelling International) Hostels I have frequented during this tour - the Californian coastal strip between Monterey and San Francisco also has several of the better selections from the HI stable.

The "Great Room" lived up to its moniker in every way and therefore must win the all-time Gold medal for hostel common areas to date.

The awesome, breezy common area and kitchen being one of the same here also inspired me to do some cooking, which is something I have not done much of for the past 3 months.

An oversized feast of Spag Bol saw me out easily for 2 days, which I was able to chase down with a stash of Mike's Hard Lemonade, another North American specialty which has won me over these past few weeks.

THE PAINTED TURTLE, NANAIMO

DAY 88

THURSDAY 30 JUNE 2016

NANAIMO - PARKSVILLE (RATHTREVOR PROVINCIAL PARK)

1030 - 1500

45.52 km (28.28 miles)
Av. Speed: 16.6 km/h (10.3 mph)
Max. Speed: ??
Time On Bike: 2h 44m 31s

Today was scheduled for a short hop only to Parksville due to the fact that the past few days has forced me to re-plan my intended route on Vancouver Island.

This is because my original plans to take a side trip out to the west coast of the island were clearly not going to work with the ferry timetabling the way it is here.

Ferries from Port Alberni run only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday which did not suit my timings at all.

'Tis a shame, but I must go with whatever is going to work for me.

Hence my schedule has re-shaped into something more direct but a somewhat less adventurous route.

And somewhat less expensive as well with ferry travel around these parts costing a pretty loonie or two.

Thus my new route map will take me initially north on Vancouver Island as far as Comox and then back to the south along the Sunshine Coast towards Vancouver after crossing to Powell River on the eastern side of the Strait of Georgia.

With any number of accommodation options available around Parksville, I had decided upon the Rathtrevor Provincial Park although this was the only one that was unable to be booked in advance as I planned ahead for this final section of the trip.

The best strategy on this type of walk-in-only basis is to get there as early as possible,which with only 40-something kilometers to cover, should not have been an issue.

Which it wasn't.

I was at the gate by 2.50 pm although the news on arrival wasn't ideal.

For $35 I could camp in the overflow car park for the night or else look elsewhere.

Of course, this is the Canada Day long weekend and I was probably doing well to be made such an offer at 3 pm the day before.

So after disappearing for 15 minutes to check it all out, I reluctantly paid the fiddler and settled in for the evening.