Blue Steel Roads

The last three days have been wickedly hot and probably not a very cleaver idea to be bike touring fully loaded in these conditions. Yet we pedalled Monday in 38c degree heat from Nanaimo to Kooms (just east of Qualicum Beach). At one point after reaching the highway 19 and 19A junction we headed a bit inland on 19 where I began to suffer the effects of heat exhaustion. Feeling very dizzy, weak, and unstable we climbed a hill at a snails pace. Eventually we reached Parksville and stopped in the shade of the information centre where we had a frozen fruit bar and waiting for some time to pass and a cooler evening. Finally we reached the Old Alberni Highway in the cool of the evening and feeling better, arrived at our host’s farm safe yet tired, worn, and frazzled. This was the worst day of the trip so far and the worst I’ve ever experienced heat related illness, something I do not want to relive.

Tuesday July 28 we packed early to try and beat the expected 39c degree onslaught knowing that we would head east toward the water and hopefully cooler day of riding up to Denman Island. We made the 10 km ride east on highway 4A to Qualicum Beach in a quick 30 min as it was a mostly downhill ride. In Qualicum we stopped in the village shade to eat breakfast when I suddenly saw an older gentleman whom I recognized from our trip to Q-Beach last year. John was on his way to the pool, as he normally does, when he decided to ride through where we were having our snacks. It was a thrill to see him again and we talked for a while before heading off to Milner Gardens before returning to have lunch with him.

Lunch with John was fantastic and we weren’t surprise when he offered to ride with us half way to the Buckley Bay ferry we also weren’t surprised that like last year he lead the way. After ice cream at Qualicum Bay we again were on our own. We hope we see John again soon.

Beth and I arrived at Buckley Bay just after the 7pm ferry left for Denman Island and so waited until the 8:30 but fortunately had a Subway right at the terminal to catch dinner (where we had lunch with John and met his significant other, Stella, last year).

The ferry only takes about 10 min to get to the island but then there’s about a 19% grade hill from the landing into the main town/village. Beth promised me a beer was waiting for me at the top of the hill but the grocery store had closed at 6 and there wasn’t another place to get and cool refreshments until the next day… that is in normal times and normal temperatures.

The next day as record breaking temperatures were still cooking the islands and us we were told that the store’s refrigeration system broke and that they were closing at 1pm. However when we got there at 12:30 they had already been closed for 30 min and so my dream of a cold beer on a hot night was put on hold again but the forecast says that I will have plenty more nights to quench my thirst, by the weekend temp are expected to climb higher.