November 7, 2016. Hitchhiking on Salt Spring Island

LOCATION;  Salt Spring Island, British Columbia WEATHER: Overcast.  Spotty rain. Highs about 50   We bought an all-day shuttle bus pass, thinking we would spend most of the day in the southern part of the island, about 10 miles away.  Our plan was to hop on and off the bus to visit places of interest.  We took the bus to Fulford Harbour, the 2nd (of 3) harbors on the island.   The island's goat cheese shop sounded interesting.  Unfortunately, the bus doesn't go there. We decided we could walk there, only about 5 miles away from Fulford Harbour.  We had been told that hitchhiking is very much accepted here (this advice from a senior citizen volunteer in the visitors' center).  So, we stiuck out our thumbs and immediately got a ride with some girls conveniently going to the cheese farm, too.  

The cheese shop was very interesting.  They do a terrific business, all hand-made.  We took a self-guided tour of the operation....

 

Then, sampled their cheeses.  The cheese rounds are works of art, with different toppings....garlic, basil, truffles, peppercorns, etc.

The girls that gave us a ride left before we did, so we started hitchhiking back toward the harbour  again.  This time we had to walk a few miles as there wasn't much traffic.  The good thing was we were able to enjoy the quiet scenery.  These deer watched us walk by.

Living up to its rain forest environment, it started to rain.  Just then, a car stopped to pick us up.

Back in the harbour area, we had some soup for lunch  and watched the ferry come in.

Our next stop was the brewery.  The bus that passes by there wasn't leaving for another 2 hours, so, out came the thumbs again.  Not only did some kind people pick us up, they took us all the way to the brewery, not just leaving us on the road leading to the brewery.     We sampled some of their wares, then walked back to the highway.  No one picked us up, but the shuttle bus came by. Back in Ganges, the main town on the island, we walked around the marina.  There are several seaplanes that take people to Vancouver Island, and to the mainland.

We had dinner in our inn, a pasta dish with shrimp in a cream-basil sauce, along with a glass of wine from an island winery.