Victoria's trails

Why do birds sing? Is it for the shear pleasure of it? Here at Blenkinsop Lake (what I would call a slough) I know I'm listening with great pleasure to a symphony of birds. About halfway between downtown and Cordova Bay the Lochside biking/hiking/riding trail cuts across Blenkinsop Lake via a wooden causeway. Thankfully, this part of the trail is not paved so the skaters and boarders turn around about a mile back where the tarmac ends leaving the birds without any competition from the noisemaking machines people like to lug around with them. In spite of what John Cage and his fellow travelers say there is a vast difference between mere noise and music.
Today (to get a little bit personal) is something of a landmark for me. It's the first time I've been able to enjoy riding my bike for over two years, at which time I became seriously ill with a pulmonary embolism. It came on fairly suddenly. There were warning signs which I ignored according to my usual philosophy of health. But then I couldn't seem to get any air. Nothing wrong with my lungs, nothing wrong with my heart, I had been exercising regularly, eating properly, and had even stopped smoking my pipe. What happened was that unbeknownst to me clots were forming in my legs which suddenly broke loose and lodged in my lungs. No oxygen getting in, no CO2 getting out. Whoops. Just about died.
Anyway it's taken me two years to get back to this point, and am I happy. A bicycle is a happiness machine...as long as you are reasonably fit.
One of the reasons I moved to Victoria from Vancouver was the Galloping Goose Trail, the first link in a growing network of Victoria area trails. The name sounds a bit silly but it reflects a historical fact. The trail follows the route of an old rail line plied by a strange looking train dubbed The Galloping Goose. Starting from the Vic West side of the Johnson Street Bridge the trail eventually wends its way into the Sooke Hills. At the Town and Country shopping center it branches off and heads up to the ferry terminal. This part is called the Lochside Trail.