Brown's Bay Bike Trip

 I LIKE THAT we take excursions with our Russian URAL bike to explore our neighbourhood. On this day we headed out to Brown’s Bay, north of Campbell River, to have a picnic and fly our kites. We were met with a cozy place to unpack my red school bag and feast on fresh fruit and sandwiches but not enough space to fly our kites. No matter. A friendly seal paddled around the area and made eye contact with us. Boats were moored at the dock and fishers took to the water.
          On our way back to Highway 19A, a steep gravel road caught our attention. Frank motioned for us to take it and I responded with thumbs up. The URAL bike is meant to handle this type of trail especially when it’s kicked into two-wheel drive. Frank revved the motor and swooped up the road. The forty-degree grade was a challenge for the URAL and it felt like riding a bronking stallion. The thirteen kilometre excursion at that vertical wasn’t something I wanted to do further, so I tapped on Frank’s right leg, made a time-out motion with my hands and he stopped the bike. I climbed out of the sidecar and looked around at the scene.
           “Oh, wow! What’s all that?” I said.
          There were all kinds of things strewn on the gravel road behind us. As we walked closer we realized that our trunk had unlatched and all the contents had fallen out. Frank walked the eighty metres to gather our belongings. We packed the trunk, locked it securely and headed back down the trail.
          Our need to travel down hidden roads brought us to the Brown’s Bay 100 marker and we turned onto the overgrown, narrow road. We rode for two hundred metres and were stopped abruptly by logs lying across the path. We turned the bike around and headed on our way. We stopped one more time at the Ripple Rock Trail and went on a hike. I’ll tell you about that adventure another time.

Brown's Bay Picnic Area

Discovery Creek Excursion

Brown's Bay 100 Excursion