Bike Ride To Leechtown

For more than a month I’ve been telling myself that I should get my bike out and go for a ride.  I only picked it up last year, after not having a bicycle for more than a decade.  Today I decided I would actually take it out on a ride and I would take my camera with me to hopefully get some interesting photos.  In order to do this, I drove up to the top parking area at Sooke Potholes Regional Park and then got on my bike to travel along the Galloping Goose Regional Trail.  My destination was a little over 7 km away and was the old site of Leechtown, a one time gold mining town.  Now there is little left, except for some rusting machinery scattered around the bushes and a marker indicating where the site was.  Nonetheless, I wanted to see it for myself and with my camera in my backpack (which seemed to weigh about 10 kg), I set off on my bike for the first time in about 8 months.

A 7 km trip one way, plus a few more riding around the site, doesn’t sound long, but the extra weight of the camera backpack and being my first bike ride of the year left a little sore, so some walking around was a welcome break.  On one of the side trails, I found a rather large, rusted piece of industrial machinery.

The gears and levers were all covered in a heavy, decades old, rust.

Looking closely, it was interesting to see just how many different tones and colours there were in the rusted parts.

I may have been starring at the rust patterns for too long, because I could have sworn that there was a face looking back at me.  I wasn’t sure if it was human or a goat, or something in between, but I’m sure I saw it watching me.

The areas that weren’t covered by rust, were covered by moss and other overgrowth.

Eventually, I decided to call it a day and gingerly ride the trail back to where I parked.  The area definitely will have to be explored in more detail at a later date, because I am sure there are more old gems to find… and maybe some gold!