After 6 months of planning, the journey finally started. The plan is to start cycling from the east-coast of Vancouver Island, over the Rocky Mountains to Calgary, in time for the Stampede. Here are some photo's and a brief account of the first day's events. (More photo's here)
Ready to leave the backpacker's bright and early.
The first 30 km was very easy and quite flat, but that is all about to change as the mountains nears.
This is the point where I ran into Shaun, a Brit whom cycled from Port Alberni to Tofino as a warm-up precursor to his cycling trip across Canada. Crazy. He told me that he scared a black bear out of a ditch by the side of the road a half-a-mile back. I luckily never saw that bear, but...
After a few tough uphills I approached a line of cars with loads of people taking pictures of a seemingly interesting tree. Turns out to be a black bear cub up in the tree. I took a few photos and was off again. I wasn't too keen on being around when mom arrives.
Some incredible scenery. The photo doesn't do it justice.
After 80 km and a total ascent of approximately 800 m my legs were shot. Having a 25 kg monkey on your back will really take it out of you. So I started venturing down side-roads in search of a camping spot for the night. I found a slightly overgrown Jeep-track road, with a side branch that led down to this spot at the foothills of the Clayoquot Plateau Provincial Park. How perfect is that!? Some 200 m from the road and right next to the river. Couldn't have asked for a better spot.
Pitched the tent below this massive spruce tree. I must say that I felt out of sorts camping alone on the forest with all the bear stories going around. I did hear a few funny things during the night, but I guess your mind will play tricks on you in these sorts of situations.
Looking back it was a pretty hard day. The final 50 km on Highway 4 was quite tough. I had to swallow my pride a few times and push my bike up the hills. It also seemed as if the most dangerous sections of the road, were the ones without a shoulder. The road was quite busy and I had to stop several times to let cars, RV's and trucks pass. Everything turned out fine though and Canadian drivers are extremely well mannered and aware of safety. Some touring cyclists opt to take the ferry from Ucluelet (just south of Tofino) to Port Alberni, but then you miss out on this spectacular scenery. Pulling off, to let an RV past every once in a while, is a small price to pay.
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