nothing " wrong " with the highway south of nanaimo , just a little busy with those cars flying by beside you .
Getting from Departure Bay to the Cedar Road turn off isn't any worse than commuting in the city. It's the Island Highway past the Cedar Road that is a bit unnerving with trucks roaring by at 120+ kph and debris flying around.
just looked at paulbs' route map . we didn't do the yellow point section immediately south of nanaimo , but i sure wish we had . taking that will cut out prolly the busiest , fastest , scariest section of the island highway
There isn't much difference between the Cedar/Haslam/Adshead route versus Cedar/Yellowpoint. Yellowpoint is longer, but mostly in trees (no ocean view) while the inner route is a bit more scenic with open fields. Both get you off the highway, and have good surfaces. There's a bunch of Strava segments too, if you're in to that.
