Goats on the Roof
My day 9, official day 7
July 17
Port Alberni to Coombs
38 miles, 2948 ft climbed
We met up with Cathy at Save on Foods where some of the group restocked. Good to be back to a party of 5. We climbed on Port Alberni city streets out of town and then there was more and more climbing. We gained most of the elevation for the day in the morning.
Last night’s rain can be measured with puddles and there were many, deep and big. Although it wasn’t raining on us as we pedaled, the vegetation and foliage was wet and we swerved around puddles and had to brave the deep ones sometimes getting our shoes wet. We were covered with mud in no time.
A creek crossing - first one on this trip - although not deep, i measured it by my three pedal strokes. I avoided getting my feet wet and it worked. The terrain was tough with the many loose boulders that required focus and picking a good line. We lifted our bikes over fallen trees and scooted them under others on the ATV track. The sun came out just in time for our lunch spot at Horne Lake, right below the bat house which I learned has very precise measurements unlike a bird house. A suspension bridge and Little Qualicum Falls provided for fun quick tourist detours.
We crossed three highways or the same one three times, not sure which, but the cars seemed to move especially fast. Then again, the world moves slowly when travelling by bike.
I stopped to take a few photos of my group when we were riding in the transmission corridor. One of my work projects focused on transmission corridor benefits and I collected many photos from my past travels that we used in our project documentation. One of them - Justin and Mike cross-country skiing under transmission lines near our home, even made it into Dept of Energy LinkedIn posts. Since we were within 10 miles of Qualicum Beach, I checked to see if I had cell service. A message from Rebecca for a Friday pick me up photo couldn’t be more timely. Rebecca was the transmission corridor project lead and we’d often send photos to each other. It’s as if I willed her. I sent her and Megan a few photos from my bike trip including the one that I just took. Fun!
We arrived at the Coombs Country Campground around 3:30 pm and after checking in and getting our site, we quickly setup our tents as it was starting to rain and the rain persisted. I shoved my clothes and all the things into the tent. There is no place to hang out when it rains and so I climbed into the tent after my shower and strung my clothes on the makeshift clothesline hanging from loops in the ceiling of the tent. Goats were next on our afternoon agenda.
We all hopped on our bikes and biked the 2 km to the Coombs Country Market. This place is famous for the goats that live on the roof. See photos!! As a little bonus we passed by two donkeys on the way. I was a bit giddy excited with the goats and genuinely love how a place in the middle of nowhere creates its own attraction. This stop is a must.
I had a solo fancy pizza dinner and then bikes back to camp. The campground has a couple hundred spots, fake lake with a fountain, it’s near à highway and overall there was lots of humanity. Our neighbors were busy setting up their camp at 11 pm as I laid here typing on my itty bitty keyboard.
1 Buddhist Temple
Many delicious thimble berries
1 Bat House
1 suspension Bridge
3 goats
2 donkeys
1 seafood pizza
