Galiano Bike Camp.

The first thing I did after landing on Galiano Island was to cycle to the scene of my accident I had the year before and make history by successfully cycling around the island without sustaining any injury.

At the scene of the accident, Jay, Ieda, Norm and I all stopped so that I can fake my accident for the camera. The sign is still there and so is the tree in which I slammed into. Nothing’s changed, actually other than the fact that I now have a stainless steel place with six screws on my left humerus.

A few kilometres later, we arrived at Montague Harbour where we unloaded and pitched out tents. I came to the realisation just how close we were to our destination before I took that tumble into the woods. Gah!

It was a beautiful day to be out cycling. From Montague Harbour, we cycled for yet another ten kilometres to a place called Retreat Cove, a beautiful nook of weathered soapstone rocks overlooking the majestic Trincomali Channel. Moving on, we continued to the north end of Galiano Island along Porlier Pass Rd. where it came to an abrupt end with a weathered billboard which stated “No Tresspassing - Indian Reserve”. We were all hungry, thirsty, and tired when we reached the end and couldn’t fathom cycling back to our campsite. Our mistake here was not bringing enough food and drinks along with us and we paid for our lack of judgement in the end. My legs were so jelly-like that I couldn’t even stand on my own two feet and took many pit stops along the way just lying on the side of the road.

Just down the steps from our campsite was a marina. We walked to the end of the dock and spent quality time looking up. The stars came out in full that night.

The morning after, we took a stroll along the beach and trails at Montague Harbour and came across a cluster of purple starfishes on the rocks. The beaches were so colourful with green algae, white sands, and blue waters.

At the bookstore by the ferry terminal, the manager there congratulated me and shook my hands after I told him that we had cycled from one end of Galiano to the other. Apparently, not many manage to complete this 50k cycle. We did it partly with our camping gear on our bike racks!

I am happy to say that I've finally covered Galiano Island with success. Now on to the next!