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Cycling scavenger hunt comes to Tweed City

Cyclists scour Oak Bay for clues in Bike to Work Week event
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Sisters Finnley Shultz, 10, and Everly Shultz, 8, with their grandmother, Oak Bay Coun. Tara Ney, at a disclosed spot that is one of the clues of the Bike to Work Week’s Oak Bay Scavenger Hunt that’s now posted on the Bike to Work Week website. The hint? A garden named after the last of a line of princes. (Travis Paterson/News Staff)

The Greater Victoria Bike to Work Week can’t happen this year so instead, they’ve created scavenger hunts for 16 areas of the region, and the latest is in Oak Bay.

On Wednesday, Coun. Tara Ney and her granddaughters cycled to the Oak Bay border with Victoria for clue No. 11, an “eclectic garden.” What’s there, that many people might not realize, is a tale of romance that hails from the Far East and that ended here, on the border of Oak Bay, when an adopted girl married a prince without a kingdom.

Right now with people unable to travel and many parents still at home with their kids, it’s a way to revisit the richness of what’s right here in our own community, Ney said.

“It’s a great way for people to connect with the First Nations history, to understand the colonial history, and to just get out and ride bikes and feel good,” Ney said. “It’s fun, and when you get on the bike you see how beautiful the city is, you really do.”

READ ALSO: Scavenger hunts, discovery rides take place of Bike to Work Week

Because of the ban on large gatherings, Bike to Work Week Victoria, which is merging this year with the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition, is unable to host the celebration stations that are the hallmark of the annual event. In Oak Bay, the celebration station has been held in front of the municipal hall.

The Bike to Work Week Society and GVCC came up with 16 scavenger hunts that started with Royal Oak/Cordova Bay and Fernwood. For the first two weeks that a scavenger hunt is posted, participants can submit their photos, videos and answers for a chance to win prizes from local businesses.

“We had 35 people submit so far but we think it’s been more like 100, because we’re seeing that a lot of the submissions represent a group of people,” said Sara Lax, event coordinator for Bike to Work Week.

READ ALSO: Video: Bike to Work Week station pops up in Oak Bay

Lax and her Bike to Work team completed the Oak Bay scavenger hunt the same day that Ney started it, on Wednesday. Lax not only identified an Oystercatcher but the bird serenaded her team on the rocky outcrop at the bottom of Radcliffe Lane (clue No. 6).

Bike to Work Week has also posted some longer “destination rides” to encourage cyclists to enjoy areas of the region they might not have previously.

Visit gvcc.bc.ca/theme-rides/scavenger-hunts for more information. The remaining 13 rides will be released throughout the summer and all rides will remain on the Bike to Work webpage.

reporter@oakbaynews.com


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