Route update · September 27
The walk now goes through Tsawwassen, and is back on schedule in Victoria
Day 24 · Scheduled earlier
Sidney, Vancouver Island
Town of Sidney Municipal Hall, 2440 Sidney Avenue, Sidney, BC
Across to Sidney by ferry and on foot
This day on the route
- Planned date
- The day
- Ferry + walking
- Planned walking
- 8.5 miles
Day 24: ferry plus 8.5 planned walking miles on land. Tsawwassen → Swartz Bay → Sidney. Ferry distance is excluded; sailing and boarding arrangements require confirmation.
Water crossing excluded from walking mileage.
Route overview, not turn-by-turn directions.
Day 24 takes the Tsawwassen–Swartz Bay ferry to Vancouver Island, with 8.5 planned walking miles on land before and after the crossing, ending in Sidney. Water miles are excluded.
After two Awareness Days in Tsawwassen, the ferry day links two pieces of walking. The plan allows 8.5 land miles, covering the walk to the terminal and the island side from Swartz Bay toward Sidney. The Tsawwassen terminal stands beside the Tsawwassen First Nation’s own lands. The journey between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay is counted as a ferry crossing, not added to the walking total.
BC Ferries carries foot passengers on this route and publishes its booking and boarding requirements. Swartz Bay is the arrival terminal; Sidney is the day’s named destination farther down the peninsula. The island walking section continues from the terminal toward the town.
Sidney’s municipal history records a subdivision of Brethour family land in 1891 and incorporation as a village in 1952. The town also places that settlement history within the much longer presence of W̱SÁNEĆ people on the peninsula and islands. Arriving by water introduces a community whose history has always extended beyond its present street boundaries.
The next day is planned as Sidney’s Awareness Day. The walk then continues south through Saanichton and Royal Oak to Victoria, where it is back on its original schedule on Sunday, October 4.
From the road
Across the water to Sidney, and Canadians showing up to help
She was up early, packing and getting ready to leave Mary’s. Nigel, her friend from the trail and the library, had arranged to come and pick her up at Mary’s house. He would keep her big pack, so that she could walk the miles to the ferry with just her little day pack, and then he would drive it to the ferry parking lot and meet her there.
It meant more than she could say that Mary had given her a safe place to sleep for the last two nights, and a place to heal her cough. She still had a cough, but it was significantly better, not so deeply ingrained down in her lungs. She owed Mary a lot for her care, for her teas and her soups, and for the warm bed to sleep in. What a beautiful gift to help her along her way.
She made it to the ferry without incident, after a lovely walk out the long causeway to the terminal. Nigel met her there with a gift of a candy bar, a very small New Testament and her great big backpack. It had been so wonderful to meet Nigel several times while she was in Tsawwassen, and he was really generous in making sure she got to the ferry and in bringing her big pack to her.
She bought her ticket and got in line to board the ferry as a passenger. As she was hurriedly packing her things from her little pack into her big pack, a young woman named Mia stopped to help her gather them up, so that she wouldn’t leave anything behind. Jeana motioned to the folks in line to go on ahead, but Mia kindly stayed until everything was safely packed away.
The ferry ride was filled with meetings and activity, and it seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. She met a lovely family seated behind her and let them know she was planning to be on a monthly interfaith Zoom call; they said it wouldn’t bother them. It was an uplifting meeting, with lots of support for the walk from her fellows. When she had finished, the grandmother of the family came to talk with her about the Steps to Marrow walk, and when she heard that Jeana would be walking through Saanichton, she said Jeana must come and stay with her.
Her host family for Sidney, Kath and Ted, got in touch before the ferry docked and made arrangements for where to meet once she had walked into Sidney. Her sister Ramona lived in Sidney as a missionary for her church more than 24 years ago, and as Jeana walked from the ferry, she imagined her sister’s life there on the beautiful island.
As she got closer to Sidney, she began running into cyclists and walkers on the pathway along the highway, and she decided to sit down on a bench. A woman was already sitting there, resting for a moment. She looked at Jeana and asked what she was doing. Jeana explained, and the woman asked how old she was. When Jeana told her 73, she said, “Oh, you’re still so young.”
They had a lovely visit. Her name was Lucy, and she turned out to be 91. She walks every morning, but she had some time that afternoon and had decided to go out for a second walk. She is a lovely human being, and what a blessing it was to meet her on the road.
That day was the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a national holiday in Canada. For her it is such a meaningful day of remembrance: of the wrongdoing done by the colonisers to the First Nations of Canada, particularly surrounding the schools that were developed, in essence, to kill the language and the culture of the First Nations, and of the many children who were kidnapped from their families.
She remembered, too, that it isn’t only in Canada that these atrocities occurred, that the United States participated, and that it also happened to the Sámi people in Norway and Finland. It is a day, she feels, to remember together those who were killed, harmed and traumatised in an attempt to assimilate the Indigenous peoples. That day she celebrated the beautiful language and culture of the First Nations in Canada, and atoned for repressive and suppressive behaviours she had committed toward herself and others.
Because of the holiday, the place where she had planned to meet Kath was closed. Kath was due at 5:30 p.m., and Jeana arrived early, so she stopped at a McDonald’s to charge her phone. While it charged, she met Lorraine, who had just turned 85 and still goes kayaking: another amazing woman, born and raised on the island.
When it was time to go and meet Kath at a restaurant called Fish on Fifth, Lorraine offered to walk her there. That was lovely, and the two of them walked several blocks together. As they went along, a young woman was walking behind them, and Jeana turned to let her pass. The young woman stopped to say that she would like to take a picture of the QR code around Jeana’s neck, so that she could join the Canadian Blood Services registry.
Kath very kindly bought her dinner, and then they went back to Kath’s home, where Jeana met Ted. They were able to visit before she went to bed, and once again she slept comfortably, warm and safe.
The Canadians are really showing up to help me!
- Distance walked
- 7.6 miles
Choose where you live
Continue to the official registry that serves you. It decides eligibility, handles registration and contacts you if you may match a patient.
Where in Canada?
Canada outside Québec — Canadian Blood Services
The Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry asks for people aged 17 to 35 in good general health. You answer eligibility questions online, complete a profile and sign a consent form; a cheek-swab kit arrives in the mail within one to three weeks for you to swab and return. If you live in Québec, you register with Héma-Québec instead. Canadian Blood Services makes the final eligibility decision.
Check the listed age range
Browse all official registry options
Eligibility rules can change. Confirm the current requirements with the official registry before joining.
Give to the Jada Bascom Foundation
Choose a symbolic amount or enter your own in Givebutter. Your donation supports JBF’s work wherever it is needed most.
Sponsoring a mile, a day or a stop is a way of describing a gift to the Jada Bascom Foundation. It does not purchase anything on the route.
$100.00 is a suggested amount. Confirm or change it in Givebutter.
Sources
Local history and background reading for this stop.
- Foot passenger check-in and boarding — checked Sep 5, 2026
- Vancouver (Tsawwassen) terminal — checked Sep 5, 2026
- Contact us and directions — checked Sep 27, 2026
- Culture and heritage — checked Sep 5, 2026
