Day 4: Campbell River to Sayward

Fundraising Tour 2022 2 Minutes

Distance: 71 km

Elevation: 560 m

Date: August 5, 2022

After a good night sleep in a comfy bed I had breakfast with Teresa and Roy and we chatted about all kinds of things. Turns out I happened to be the first guest they had invited into their house „off the road“.

It was actually quite hard to say good bye because they had been so super nice to me. I asked them how I can return the favor. Teresa said „when you are around next time, just come by“. Roy mentioned that my visit was good to fight boredom. Funny guy!

By 9:30 am I was on the road again heading North on Route 19. Today was a bit of a climbing day. It went uphill in a steady light slope for about 30 km in total. The weather was very pleasant with blue skies and a light breeze.

Following a highway has it’s merits because navigation is not a big thing. However, the traffic can be annoying at times. The further I get up North though the calmer the traffic.

I am on track to reach Port Hardy on the evening of August 7 in order to catch the ferry to Prince Rupert the day after. So, after consulting with Roy I had chosen a camping spot about 70km away from Campbell River. The next one after that would have been another 60km and a lot of climbing. Since wild camping is out of the question I have to go with the options available.

I felt a bit bad though to arrive at my destination around 2 pm already. Felt like working half days. I notice that I’m not feeling well because of that.

Well, at least the camp site had friendly hosts, Wi-Fi and showers. So I could upload some blogs and do laundry.

This is officially bear territory now. There are around 4,000 black bears on the island but no grizzlies. Good to know! I wonder how this would be handled back in Germany. The funny thing: here there are plenty of warning signs for deers and elks but none for bears, wolves and cougars.

The hosts of the campground talk about „their“ bears with a sense of pride: „Our black bears have enough to eat. They are no garbage bears“. However, I will lock away my food tonight … just to be sure.

There is a restaurant here at Sayward, so I will probably try this out today and go to bed early.

Knee update: Still not ok but stable. Cycling works but walking and kneeling down is an issue.

Published by Karsten Drath

About 30 years ago, two zis scholarships helped me to broaden my horizon, expand my understanding of what is possible, and develop more self-confidence. zis is a non-profit organization that has been awarding scholarships for study trips to young people between the ages of 16 and 20 for more than 60 years. Today, the word we use for tenacity and grit is resilience - and I've made it my profession, to help managers around the world to develop more of this inner power. In retrospect, the experiences I've had on these trips to Scotland and Iceland have been priceless for my development. After having had a childhood with some challenges, I learned that I could cycle 1,700km on my own and get wet every day without despairing. I have learned that I was able to get along with only 300 € for 4 weeks and still had a good time. I have learned what it's like to be threatened with deportation and how to get an interview with the President from such a crisis. I have understood that limitations are primarily constructs in our heads, and I want to make these insights available to as many adolescents as possible.

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