Victoria -- Day 4

We had a few hours left before we had to return our bikes, so we took one more ride.  We went along Dallas Road, which follows the southern coastline and is definitely the scenic route through the city area.  We thought it would be a leisurely ride, but there were a few more hills than we were anticipating, and our legs were a little sore (not to mention our rears) from the long ride the day before.

We went through some beautiful neighborhoods, with quaint seaside houses.

As we moved east, we could see a fog rolling in...

And in no time it looked like this:

This was the view of the water, but behind us was clear blue sky.  

We rode as far as we could, but eventually the fog made us very cold (plus we were riding SO FAST). We turned around and headed back.  In all, we biked another 12 miles, on top of the 20+ from the day before. So much for a leisurely morning.

Once we dropped off our trusty bikes, we opted for even more freedom and rented a car for the final few days of our trip.  We wanted to explore new parts of Vancouver Island, so we headed up Route 1 to the small town of Duncan.  It was a beautiful drive up (although a lot of traffic, and a few scary deer sightings).  We stopped at an overlook to take in the view.

This is looking east toward the northern reach of Saanich Peninsula. The land you see in the very distance is actually the San Juan Islands.  The ferry you see is headed to Mill Bay from Brentwood Bay, where we got married.

We had a nice couple of hours in Duncan. We ate lunch and poked around a few shops.  It reminded us a little bit like New Bern (but not as big) or Hendersonville.

Then we headed to Goldstream Provincial Park. Our first little hike took us to Niagara Falls (western edition).  The water was icy cold but felt good on my feet. A local was building up the nerve to go all the way in, but he only made it to his waist.

It was so pretty here!

Then we went on perhaps the most challenging hike of my life. We thought we'd just do a little mild hiking, especially with our already tired bodies. We picked the wrong trail.  To our credit, the maps were not very clear and not drawn to scale, so our quick but uphill climb turned into a grueling test.  Considering the highest peak at home is the 22 ft above sea level "hill" that our house sits on, we were in over our heads.

This is the trail. It was more rock climbing than hiking.  The photos don't really grasp the perspective, but most of this was near vertical, and nothing but large rocks and gravel.

Sadly, we did not make it all the way to the top.  I'm afraid to know how close we were, but Lisa finally was the voice of reason and made us turn back.  Our legs were so shaky at this point, she was afraid of one of us stumbling on the way down (going down is so much more painful than going up).  Once we finally decided to head down, we were quickly passed by a woman bounding down the rocks like a mountain goat.  And she was ~4-5 months pregnant.  

This was a rather steep stretch of the trail. You can see in the middle there (if you look really closely) a wooden bridge WAY down in the valley.

 We made it off the trail in mostly one piece, so we rewarded ourselves with a good foot soak in the stream.

After a physically challenging day such as that, we were in immediate agreement on dinner plans.  Italian for some good carb loading.  We picked Pagliacci's (good reviews) and it was yet another restaurant with a long waiting line out the door.  It helps to have just 2 people; we only waited about 15 minutes.  Food, excellent.  Ambiance, OK.  They pack so many people in there, it was like eating at a communal table.  We met nice women on holiday from Scotland, though!