Booked in haste as soon as reservations opened this past spring, I had a site at Shingle Bay campground alongside a handful of friends for August 22 – 24. Shingle Bay is a secluded campground along a particularly beautiful bit of coastline, accessible only by foot or bike, and with a minimum of services: no water, just a single pit toilet.
I had never been to Shingle Bay, though I’d been on Pender before. It reminded me a lot of Narvaez Bay on Saturna with its beauty and seclusion.
It was also the first ride on my newly installed Continental Terra Trail tires, which I’d bought a year ago but was patiently waiting for my Ultradynamico treads to die.
I rode from home to the ferry, about 54km distance, with a friend and her e-cargo bike and two small kids. The cargo bike doesn’t fit on or in either their car nor public transit options, so ride it was. It’s a big of a slog – across town, over a couple bridges, then across an expansive section of farmland to finally reach Tsawwassen ferry terminal.
Once on Pender, the campsite is only 6km from the ferry, but this distance includes a few punchy climbing sections. I raced to the beer store first, then made my way to camp. After setting up my tent I realized my rear tire had gone flat; a slow leak on the inaugural ride on these tires!
The image below hopefully captures the beauty of this campground. It’s a small clearing filled with apple trees, on a small bay where the remainder of nearby coastline is cliffside. It’s a bit of a marvel.
As with many gulf islands, deer were plentiful and friendly. Whatever we were up to, you could count on them to be on the peripheral. Some gulf islands also have a lot of raccoons, but I didn’t see any here.
We enjoyed a wonderful sunset and a starry night aided by the lack of moon.
The next day I did two of my favourite camp morning activities: slow coffee while watching the tide slowly move, and a low-tide wander. I also fixed the flat tire, which I hope to not make a tradition of.
We lucked out that the annual Pender fair was happening on our only full day on the island, so once the morning rituals were complete, we headed into “town” for the festivities. The event started with a low budget but high enthusiasm parade, followed by fairgrounds full of display fruit and local interests of all sorts. I had a volunteer-grilled hamburger and spent some time in the beer garden, where beer from the nearest brewery was pouring – which was from Sidney, just on the other side of the ferry to Vancouver Island.
They also had some animals – chickens, goats, sheep, horses – including a wee lad reminiscent of Lil’ Sebastian.
Once we had befriended enough farm animals, we headed out from the fair and a few kilometres away to Twin Island Cider, which I would posit is the best cider in BC. Pender Island has a rich history of apple trees all over the island, and many of them contribute to the traditionally made cider at Twin Island. It was stinkin’ hot, and cider was exactly what we needed.
We made our way back to camp in the late afternoon, where lazing along the beach and wandering the coastline was the remaining day’s plans.
The evening brought a break in the sweaty temps as well as another beautiful sunset. There is something very special about a gulf island sunset, and Shingle Bay rivals the best in this regard, in company with Descanso Bay on Galiano.
The third day was the trek back home, but we had plenty of time before the ferry to check out some beaches along the way and spend some time with beers in the courtyard of the only shopping ‘mall’ on the island.
We didn’t arrive back in Tsawwassen until after 6pm, so it was dark by the time I was in the final 10km push to home. On the other hand, this was great for avoiding the worst of the August heat.
Trip recap:
- 3 days, 2 nights
- 149 km
- 1 flat tire
- 2 awesome sunsets
- 14 beers
- A million smiles
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