2020 Port Tour Cycle

Jenny, Vincent, myself, and Peter, ready to head out. Vincent didn’t cycle, but was there offer a prayer and send us on our way.

August 29th marked the official day for the annual Mission to Seafarers’ “Cycle for Seafarers”. Due to COVID-19, this year cyclists were allowed to choose their own routes for cycling and complete the cycle on any day they chose this summer. We decided to do a port tour cycle and stop by several of the terminals along the way. In the end it was just Rev. Peter Smyth (Anglican chaplain), myself (the CRC chaplain), along with my wife, Jennifer.

We departed shortly after 10 AM from the downtown centre. Vincent Ng, our present intern chaplain, was there with his wife Charlotte to send us off with a prayer and a wave. We headed west into a fairly brisk wind along Coal Harbour and up to Stanley Park. At that point we followed the Stanley Park causeway up and over the Lionsgate Bridge. It was a beautiful day for cycling – sunshine with a nice cool breeze.

On the bridge overlooking North Vancouver.

Peter leading the way up and over the bridge.

Once over the bridge we headed east along the north shore of North Vancouver. There are some great bike paths here, and eventually we came to “Sailors’ Point, just west of Lonsdale Quay. This is where an annual Remembrance Day service is held to honour Maritime war heroes.

At Sailors’ Point in North Vancouver, with downtown Vancouver across the Burrard Inlet in the background.

Overlooking downtown Vancouver.

We worked our way along the north shore until we came to Richardson Grain Terminal where we stopped for a photo shoot.

At Richardon terminal – Grain silos on the left; a ship loading grain on the right.

Beautiful view of the downtown skyline from Richardson Terminal.

Carrying on along the north shore we came to Cargill Grain Terminal, which is right beside Neptune Terminal where Coal and Potash are loaded. The rail tracks carrying cargo for ships run all along the north shore.

Cargill Terminal in the background.

Overlooking the rail tracks.

From Cargill we proceeded along to the very new G3 Grain Terminal, still on the north shore. This new terminal only opened early this year. It’s massive, and with 2 loading chutes it can load grain onto the ships very quickly.

Standing in front of the loading berth at G3 Terminal.

Rail cars circle around the terminal for off loading into the silos in the background. From there the grain is loaded onto ships.

From there we completed our ride along the north shore and headed up and over the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. It’s quite the climb up, actually, but fun heading down the south side.

Not my photo, but a great shot of the bridge.

Now back on the south shore we stopped off by Cascadia Grain Terminal, run by the Viterra Company. We took a break here at New Brighton Park, and Jenny headed back to our home, while Peter and I continued on along the Port road.

Cascadia Grain Terminal

Peter and I carried along through the port until we exited via the Clark Drive overpass. From there we had a good view both Vanterm Container Terminal and Alliance Grain Terminal.

Overlooking Vanterm Container Terminal

And Alliance Grain Terminal – our final stop before completing the journey.

And finally we were back at the centre. In all it took a bit over 3 hours of mostly fairly relaxed cycling and some nice stops along the way. Thanks to all who have supported this cycling tour. Care to join us next year?

We made it! Definitely a worthwhile ride.