The Mayne Island Bike Excursion.

To take advantage of the long weekend, Jay and I had thought to go explore some of the islands serviced by BC Ferries and explore it by bike. We had decided to go to Mayne Island and had intended to depart on Saturday morning but because of limited services to the South Gulf Islands with only two sailing a day, we didn't leave until Sunday morning.

After making concrete plans just the night before, we were all set to go with Norm, Gonca, and Echo in tow. Five bikes loaded onto my trusty Toyota Workhorse Pickup with five passengers crammed inside its small cab. With a stop at Save-On-Foods, we hit the road to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, parked at the over-night economy parking, dismounted our bikes, and rode our two-wheeled mechanical machines on the ferry with all of our camping gear and food on our backs and racks.

Mayne Island was nothing more than a small outpost from and old era on an isolated from the bigger cities of Victoria to the West and Vancouver to the East, and offered a peaceful scenic vista sans-tourists. Jay was having issues with his derailleurs immediately after disembarking from the ferry and had to maintain using the high gear through all the up hills and down hills. Scoping out for a free place to camp as we made no reservations to the only legal campground on the island, our trek took us all around the island and to the interior where we found a small school with a small fire department across from it. Cycling further down the Mayne artery (you know I had to use it!), there was a trading post, a post office, a quaint little bookstore, and a cafe/restaurant/bar attached to the Springwater Lodge overlooking a pier jutting out onto Miners Bay. This is where we kicked back as it was the only place open past 1700h.

The only legal campground on the island turned out to be our best bet with its close proximity to Miners Bay and a scenic vista of the many BC Ferries coming and going in the distance. At $12 a head, it was a little more than we had hoped to pay for, but we were all very happy with the place. It had an outdoor shower facility, outhouses, and a communal fire pit with benches around it which invited social dialogue with others camping on site.

On Victoria Day Monday, the weather turned to shower and I was caught with just a t-shirt and a thin Adidas jacket as we were boarding the ferry back home. It hardly dampened our spirits though as we were coming off from a rush of cycling to and from Mayne Island's lighthouse.

Not a bad weekend excursion, indeed.