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,...