Travelling by bike to Vancouver Island is fun, easy and reasonable

Almost 40 years ago, I used to ride by bicycle over to Vancouver Island on an annual basis. I would meet up with my friends Barry and Terry O'Neill and attend the annual bottle show in the Juan de Fuca Arena in Colwood each summer.
They would usually travel with Terry's parents Margaret and Ron Wagner and I could spend the night with them, so I didn't have to pack much of anything. In those days, I didn't even bother taking a bottle of water. I would drive to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, ride my bike onto the ferry and make my way to Colwood.
There was no easy way to cycle in from the ferry. I rode on Highway 17, East Saanich Road or Interurban Road. All had a fair bit of traffic, although Highway 17 was far and away the busiest. It also had some steeper hills, but it was the most direct.
Nowadays, there is a much better alternative. The Lochside Trail, most of which is on the former Canadian National Railways right-of-way between downtown Victoria and Sidney, is direct, offers an easy gradient and is a quiet and peaceful alternative to the highway.
A group of us wanted to do an overnight bike trip to Vancouver Island, so we caught the 3 p.m. ferry at Tsawwassen last Sunday (July 5). As I had done years ago, the vehicles were parked at the terminal and we rode aboard. Bicycle riders are generally first on and first off. With a BC Ferries Discover card, cyclists are not charged extra for their bicycles - just for the foot passenger fare.
Who were these intrepid riders, brave enough to go to these unexplored island trails? In addition to my wife Bonnie, who had been on Lochside with me about 10 years ago, we went with Ken and Terry Wolgram, Tom and Sylvia Waldron and Beverly Harris. All are experienced and enthusiastic cyclists.
We got off the ferry and found the Lochside Trail almost immediately. It is accessed at the Land's End Road overpass just out of the terminal. This stretch of the trail is the most recent one opened.
The trail goes to Sidney, where it is very close to the ferry dock that Washington State Ferries uses to go back and forth to Anacortes.
From there, it goes along Bazan Bay on a stretch of road that was once the Victoria and Sidney Railway right-of-way. It was taken over by CNR when the V and S ceased operating in 1919, and hasn't had tracks on it since the late 1930s. It then goes inland through fields and forests. The trail is very scenic and cool on a hot summer day.
We stopped for dinner at Bill Mattick's at the Cordova Bay Golf Course, just off the trail. It was a great place for a meal. We met up with my longtime friend and high school classmate Sigrid Albert, who lives in Sidney.
We then went to our motel, the Cherry Tree Inn, which unfortunately is across a very steep hill from the trail. It was tough getting there with bikes loaded down with our gear. I want to find an easier way to get to the motel next time. It is ideal for cyclists - modernized, clean and very reasonable. It is just off Highway 17, across from Beaver Lake.
The next day, we found a much easier way back to the trail by going to Royal Oak Road and then onto Lochside. From there, we rode into Victoria for a great lunch at one of my favourite brew pubs (and the second one ever licensed on B.C.), Spinnakers. The restaurant (which also has a guest house), specializes in locally-sourced food and the meals are indeed fabulous - as is the beer and other drinks.
Spinnakers is just a short ride from the end of the trail at the Johnson Street Bridge. It was good to see the old blue bridge again - it won't be there much longer, as a replacement is being built. The nearby Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway shops and roundhouse are still standing, but will soon be put to new use and surrounded by a modern residential development. There will be a completely new look to property that offers one of the last vestiges of the past in an area which is now almost totally high-density residential.

On the way back, my tire was losing air. We paused at a quirky but very well-equipped bike repair shop at the junction of the Lochside and Galloping Goose trails, just off the switch bridge which takes the trail over Highway 1. It is called Recyclistas Community Bike Shop. Its "menu" is well worth checking out. I highly recommend it to cyclists needing attention while on the trail.

The Lochside and Galloping Goose trails are among the busiest ones in B.C., and I can see why. It is easy to use one or both to get to work or downtown for pleasure. They are heavily-used by recreational cyclists as well. A counter on the trail near the Victoria terminus shows that more than 300,000 bikes had passed by that point thus far this year. When we first rode by before 12 on Monday, over 800 cyclists had passed by so far that day.
The lack of interface with vehicles is exactly the way to truly enjoy cycling. In my opinion, it is the only way that cycling can truly become a popular and valid alternative to motor vehicle travel.
Our trip back tlo the ferry was very enjoyable. Despite the smoke in the air, it was a pleasant day and a stop at Michell's farm market was a good break.
I also have a new appreciation for the skills that marine captains and navigators have after watching carefully just how the ferries are brought in for a landing. It is very impressive.
I will be doing this journey again. It was reasonable, the company was delightful and it's a great way to get to a very nice part of B.C. I hope to do the Galloping Goose all the way to Sooke