Feb, 17, 2015
Victoria, B.C.
Ten days of fairly steady drizzle and rain ended yesterday, and today promised to be even better, so I decided to make a little trip I had been planning for a while. I’ve visited Salt Spring Island several times in Lulu, my wee houseboat, but only the main harbours, Fulford and Ganges. This time, I wanted to see the northern part of the island, terra incognita.
Now the direct route from our home would be straight north up the centre of the Saanich Peninsula on Hwy 17 (the Princess Pat, as it’s known around here) to Swartz Bay. But since it was the perfect day for a boat trip, I took the late, great Ernie Banks’s words to heart and took him one better: Let’s play three!
So instead of catching the Swartz Bay-Fulford ferry, I rode Mr. Moto up the west side of the peninsula to Brentwood Bay, Lulu’s summer home and the place you catch the Mill Bay ferry, a half-hour ride that has a couple of things going for it: the scenery is fantastic and you land north of the dreaded Malahat Highway, a treacherous stretch of the Trans-Canada even on a nice day.
Then it was a blast north on the Trans-Canada to Crofton (which apparenly has the unofficial town motto ‘Rock Crofton, Rock Often’), hoping I could make the leg in a half-hour to connect with the next ferry — and I did, just. A minute after I boarded we pulled away from the landing. Perfect timing. Another gentle half-hour voyage brought us to Vesuvius, well north of Fulford and Ganges, the two primary harbours on the island.
When I looked at the map earlier my hopes rose that the coast on the north part of the island might provide some great pictures, but unfortunately it’s almost entirely private property, divided among grand estates with very long driveways and some very large farms — I couldn’t believe how many sheep I saw today. I did spot a couple of funky old places sitting on property worth millions, but this is the high-rent district.
However, there is one bit of coast road I had to pass on — North Beach Rd., which goes to a place called Walker’s Hook, was closed to all but local users. Maybe next time.
I ate my lunch sitting on a log next to the coast guard station in Ganges Harbour under the watchful eyes of a whiter-than-white gull with a drop of red on his beak and a pair of crows, whose raucous caws sent a dachsund waiting for its human into paroxysms of barking. The tuna sandwich was great.
My nose led me down Beaver Point Rd. to Ruckle Provincial Park, which features a huge and active heritage farm that still belongs to the Ruckle family, who donated the property for the park to the province.
The ferry ride back to Swartz Bay from Fulford, followed by the return ride down the peninsula to Victoria, a kiss from my wife Moira and a steak dinner made the perfect cap to a much-needed day in the sun.
nomadsam46 