Eric and I took advantage of some potentially decent weather to ride the Cowichan Valley 8 route on Southern Vancouver Island over three days. It’s an easy 2km from home to the Coho ferry and a 1.5hr crossing to Victoria. The route begins downtown so a very easy start. Despite being the middle of the week, there were a large amount of trail users on the Galloping Goose. We stopped for a snack after the Johnson St bridge thinking we had more than enough time to ride the 50mi to our campsite. We were to discover this was going to be a far more challenging day over 8hrs later.
Around Humpback Reservoir is when it gets hilly. It’s also where you’d exit to get to Goldstream Provincial Park, which is only 15mi from the start. The Sooke Hills Wilderness trails were in amazing condition, far better than the last couple times since 2017. Looks like they’ve brought in tons of materials and graded it to a very smooth surface. But, oh my, is it hilly. We had to hike a few hills during the hours it took us to get to the Kinsol Trestle.
We planned on camping at Stoltz Pool Campground, but there is no easy access crossing the Cowichan River until you get to the 66km trestle and can cross over to the north side. By then it’s a few miles to ride backwards to the campground. We were so knackered by then we opted to try Horseshoe Group site which was right there. Unfortunately it was packed with a youth group and the water had high levels of sodium and needed treatment but we topped off anyway. There is not much easily accessible water along the trail this year, though we found a one good stream to filter earlier.
There is a marked campground on the posted maps, but it was closed and abandoned likely over a decade ago. We opted to stay there anyway, though the local traffic on each side was fairly frequent. We didn’t get tents up till near 9pm and just went to sleep without dinner as the mosquitoes were a little fierce. Slept fairly well, but it was a very long day at 53mi.
Day two it was still dry and we had a nice spin to the town of Cowichan where the visitor center has washrooms and up the street is a nice bakery with coffee called the Island Pastry Haus which is the only place open before 8am. We were still sore and tired from the day before but today was similar distance but not as hilly. Had a nice cruise along the Cowichan Valley trail into Duncan where we found the wonderful Craig Street Brewpub and enjoyed a fantastic lunch and their local beers. Will definitely be back there again!
We broke down the rest of the day into 5 mile blocks and stopped for cold drinks each time. Just made the Shawnigan House which closes at 3pm, but they we nice enough to sell us drinks and filled our bottles. They even offered their restroom and when they locked the doors we could stay on their shady table out of the sun. Such a good stop. In Mill Bay we picked up some Sneaky Weasel beers and headed to Bamberton Provincial Park. I’ve stayed there before and knew the climb up to it was long, but it seemed far longer this time. Only a little over a mile it’s over 8% in spots and after almost 50 miles felt like a wall.
Scored a nice campsite and had time to enjoy our beers, chat with the ranger and enjoy dinner. It was a lovely evening though you can hear Hwy 1 traffic for most of the night. All in all a nice day and happy to be in camp early enough to enjoy some down time.
Final day was so nice. Good long sleep, casual breakfast and reasonable start time to drop rapidly to the ferry only a few minutes away. More lovely weather and only 20mi to ride, with only the long climb out of Brentwood before dropping down to the trail into Victoria. Caught the 9:20am ferry and such a civilized way to hop over to the Saanich Peninsula. As always, stopped at the Harvest Rd cafe and took in some delicious breakfast bagels and fries. Top notch place and so popular being right on the trial.
Due to the previous couple days of bigger miles, today was all about noodling into Victoria with the goal of Phillips Brewing. We had lots of time to chill, people watch and enjoy the day. I miss non-motorized trails. Far too many electric motorcycles speeding along thinking they are actually riding. While I like seeing the older motor bikers enjoying the day, there are far too many ignorant people thinking “two wheels makes them cyclists”. If you have a motor, you are a motorcyclist. Get a license and stay on the road with cars or make 250W the max power. Sheesh.
We arrive at Phillips Brewing with time to consume a flight, a pint of our favs and some food. Watched a cadre of fascinating street life, near death roller-blading, can hauling, hockey stick wielding street skating and all in all a fabulous end to the journey. A few short km’s to the ferry at 3pm. Met a cool couple on tour from Portland, OR who were old ski bums from CO so enjoyed reminiscing with them until it was too windy and cold to stay on deck.
After a break in the Coho cafe we debarked in crazy high winds and made our way back to my house. Such a lovely getaway and big thanks to Eric for being such a wonderful tour companion!
Why not take a slug off the growler before launching through traffic on a motorized scooter?
