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Day 1, August 17, Vancouver to Sechelt: We spent the night at my friend Ron's house and in the morning he joined us on his bike as far as downtown. So we got a guided tour through some beautiful neighborhoods, across False Creek on the Burrard Bridge into downtown, and along English Bay on the bike path to Stanley Park. It was warm and sunny so we had breakfast outdoors, some delicious hot cinnamon rolls and coffee at the Delaney Cafe on Denman Street. Downtown Vancouver

Fortified with plenty of calories we continued on through Stanley Park and over the Burrard Inlet on the Lions Gate Bridge. The cycle path road signs were a little confusing here but we managed to find our way to Marine Drive, through a busy commercial section of West Vancouver.

Lions Gate Bridge

Soon we were back on quieter streets through the residential part of West Van and on to the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay. On our previous three bike tours together we'd never been in a city anywhere near this size. But Vancouver is very bike-friendly and it was a pretty pleasant ride through town.

Ferry to Langdale

After a short wait we boarded our first ferry for the ride to Langdale and the beginning of the Sunshine Coast. The coast road north of Vancouver runs for less than 100 miles because the many inlets, fjords, and mountains make roads nearly impossible. Just to get to the end of this short road requires two ferry crossings.

When you disembark a ferry on the Sunshine Coast it makes sense to let all the cars get off first before getting back on the bike. With the next ferry not due for a couple of hours you pretty much have the road to yourself. The road to Sechelt, where we stopped for the day, was quiet and picturesque. Lots of little ups and downs but essentially flat and easy. When we pulled into Sechelt we'd done about 45 miles, typical of what we'd do on the rest of this trip.

Our Seaside Accommodations in Sechelt

We met two other cyclists today on the ferry, both solo riders. One was a young guy who was doing his first bike tour, just a short ride to Texada Island. He had ambitions to ride down the Pacific Coast to San Diego next year and just wanted to see if he would really enjoy bike touring. The other cyclist was a young woman who was obviously a very experienced bike tourist. She'd just packed up her bags on the spur of the moment that morning for a weekend ride up the Sunshine Coast. Vancouver is one of the few cities where you can start a spontaneous bike tour and enjoy every mile. Surprisingly we met very few other touring cyclists on this trip. Next