The four Cs

After a good night's sleep we got up and ready for a day of exploring. The four Cs as I called it, Courtenay, Comox, Cumberland and Campbell River, beckoned. It would take two days to do the four... But first; coffee on the beach...

 

Beautiful Miracle Beach

 

First to Cumberland. We drove down the slow road and then took the turn off into town. We found a suitable place to park the car and set off on foot. As luck would have it, the township was just then in the process of repaving the high street. This is not a bad thing; this means that the township is keen on rejuvenating the place, a good sign. Cumberland has all the makings of a great attraction, albeit in a few years time. We strolled along for about 30 minutes and moved on.

 

Courtenay was next. We had seen a few condos in town that struck our fancy and found them easily. And then once we got there we found them too close to the highway and without good access to the shops and such. My goodness, we are so picky, but hey this will probably be our last home, so we had better be picky.

 

We then went on to Comox and Goose Spit park, a wonderful place with a wide beach and a great place to wile away an afternoon with some good food and wine. Just plain beautiful sand and a fantastic driftwood sea wall. Wow! What a perfect picnic spot. Comox seems a bit more upscale. The real estate looks expensive. Some of the older homes are very well kept and there are quite a few places under complete renovation. We will be spending the autumn months doing research on the island's real estate market to see how quickly or slowly properties get sold here...

 

Goose Spit

Another Beglaw moment

Vancouver Island has plenty of deer

 

By now we were ready for a bite and we stopped in Courtenay along the river for some lunch. Across the river some people were enjoying the waterfront and soaking up the last rays of summer. Well served with the day's activities we returned to our campsite and settled in for the night...

 

The view from our lunch spot

 

The next morning we had a plan to go to Campbell River and Elk Falls Provincial park. Campbell River has some beautiful green spaces within the city's reach. A lot of opportunity for great hikes. We cruised through town and found Elk Falls Provincial park.

 

Elk Falls Provincial park is 1,807 hectares in size and is located at the east end of John Hart Lake on the northwest side of the city of Campbell River. The park was established in 1940 to protect the waterfall and canyon. In 1947 the John Hart dam and generating station was completed, followed by two other dams upstream, Strathcona and Ladore. Most of the water that used to flow over the falls is now diverted for power production. A suspension bridge over the canyon was completed in 2015, and provides a good view of Elk Falls. At certain times the water in the river is diverted to power the generators that supply electricity to the region. At these times the falls supposedly go down to a trickle. There are signs posted in the park explaining that when the water is "turned back on" there will be a surge in the flow of the river and the falls. Thus it would be a good idea not to get too close to the edge of the babbling brook that is supposed to be a river. A siren will sound before this happens...

 

A river runs through these

 

We walked up to the falls and the suspension bridge. Along the way there are large culverts that carry water to the turbines that produce the electricity. Shelagh, having vertigo, could not even look at the bridge so I ventured on by myself. The bridge is 65 meters long and 64 meters high above the canyon. It has a very steep descent and ascent, and a metal corrugated deck that is quite see-through. I looked down through the deck a few times and figured that Shelagh was quite right to stay put. At the other side is a platform leading to nowhere. I took some pictures and crossed the bridge again, keeping my eyes focused on my destination. Then once again on the other side I took the stairs down to a viewing platform and took some more pictures. I climbed the stairs back up and found Shelagh patiently waiting for me on a bench. We hiked back to the parking lot and got into the car for our trek to Campbell River.

 

 

It is said that this bridge can support 20 elephants

 

Campbell River is a pretty town with everything you could possibly want available. We had lunch in Robert V. Ostler park within the city and watched a father and son play in the jungle gym area. The sun was warm and the weather comfortable. There are plenty of shops and eateries in town, and we found this is a very livable place but a bit far from the Nanaimo ferry terminals. We headed home to our tent and I started working on the kindling for the fire. A lazy rest of the day followed with a visit to the beach, dinner, a comfy fire and bed. The next day was time to break camp and head home to the busy lower mainland.

 

 

Up early, no coffee, no breakfast. Shelagh went to the showers while I took down the tent and started getting things stowed. We each have our jobs both when camping and living together. We are like a well lubed machine when things need to get done, and we were ready for the road in no time...

 

We planned on taking the ferry from Dukes Point, south of Nanaimo, to Tsawwassen. Driving on highway 19, the inland island highway, we cruised along at the speed limit of 120 kmh and saw the sign near Nanaimo stating that the ferry was 87% full, we had 29 km to go, yikes. If we miss this ship we will have a 2.5 hour wait! Shelagh, who is a very law abiding citizen, suggested I step on it and don't spare the horses... We creeped up to ten km over the speed limit. When we got to the terminal the ship was already loading, we paid our fare and got in line. Seeing all these cars roll onto the ship while our line is not even close to moving sure puts some weight in your stomach. Then suddenly the car ahead of us started moving and we followed. When we got near the front of our line the attendant put up his hand and stopped us in our tracks. We waited and waited, Shelagh was praying... Then suddenly he pointed at us and gave us the go ahead! Two more cars eventually followed us onto the ship. We were boarded!

 

 

We celebrated our good fortune with eggs benny and coffee in the ship's restaurant and had a pleasant sailing home bound. The ferries' restaurants used to be just alright, but now they are run by White Spot, the Bread Garden and Starbucks. What an improvement! The two hour crossing went without any problems and we were soon home. Back in our pretty house, unpacked and ready for my shower and three loads of laundry, a house husband's work is never done...

 

Now we ponder, island life suits us, but where on the island will be our next home? Stay tuned for that...

 

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Going to Victoria

It is 05:30 and Shelagh is wide awake with a head full of things to accomplish before we head out at 07:00 for the Tsawwassen ferry to Victoria. 15 minutes later I crawl out of bed and get into the routine of making a strong cup of coffee and reading the news. The car had been loaded up the night before and all that remained to be done was to organize the cooler. We brought four prepared dinners from our freezer for the first few days, so there is no rush to go shopping for stuff right away. We still managed to forget to include all the vegetables in the fridge, so Liam will scoop those while on one of his regular check-up visits to the house. We left the house at 07:00 on the dot!

Getting loaded

Along the drive to the ferry terminal are electronic signs showing the ships and their departure times as well as how full they are. Our planned sailing was for 08:00 and the sign showed us that there were no waits and that the boat was 21% full, no worries! We paid our kings ransom ($88.20) for the tickets and waited for our turn to board, everything went smoothly and we were soon enjoying the views from our comfy chairs on board. The crossing typically takes about one hour and forty minutes. Shelagh had made some snacks of hard boiled eggs and granola bars for us to munch during the crossing. There is a snack bar and a full blown restaurant on board as well. Along the way there are many sights to admire and my favourite is Active Pass, where two ferries meet in opposite directions in a narrow pass between Maine and Galiano islands. The ship's whistle blows loud to warn smaller boats that there is little room for error and to keep well clear.

In Active Pass

With ten minutes left 'till arrival the PA system announced that we were to return to our vehicles for disembarking. And that was it, we are officially "Islanders" for the next two weeks. Being in no hurry to get to Goldstream park where we will camp for four nights we decided to cruise through Victoria and see a bit of the city. Just following the traffic we managed to see a bit of downtown, the Empress Hotel, the Parliament Buildings and Beacon Hill park. We stopped in Beacon Hill park where a ton of dogs were running around off leash and having a blast, and chatted with a fellow who moved to Victoria many years ago from Toronto, and he highly recommends the city. Our plan is to see the south end of the "Island", then up a bit around Parksville and finally Courtenay and Comox.

Beacon Hill park coastline

At about 11:30 we headed for the park and were told to just find a vacant site and set-up. The ranger would stop by some time later to book us in and sell us firewood. We found a suitable spot, nice and large for the tent and our camping chairs and within half an hour we were home sweet home. Lunch was easy, canned veggie soup with Wasa crackers and cheddar cheese. We made plans for the afternoon...

Because the weather was nice, and there was a threat of rain for Tuesday we decided to go to Sooke and check out some condo buildings on the waterfront that had peaked our interest while checking the realtor.ca app. The waterfront location of the condos is quite good but the building is old and tired and too close to the highway. Sooke is located on Juan de Fuca straight and has magnificent views of the water, but the town itself was disappointing. It all looked just too tired and in need of a good clean-up. Also prices at the local grocery store seemed a bit inflated.

Just before Sooke we noticed a sign pointing to Pothole Regional park and we decided to take a look. It is owned and operated by the local First Nations band and has awesome swimming holes in the Sooke river and a campground. We asked for permission to check out the campground and our request was happily granted, we toured the place and came to the conclusion that it is a great place for young people who like to party. The surrounding scenery is awesome.

In the area is a ruin that was once a business venture to become a lodge on the river. The plans got caught up in red tape and eventually the dream became a nightmare. All that remains are the foundations and the chimney stack. The site looks sad and I hope that someday some entrepreneur will take it on and make it work.

Sooke got removed from the list of possible places to retire to on the Island. The afternoon now well spent, we went back to our home in Goldstream park and relaxed a while before getting dinner started. The park ranger should drop by soon with firewood...

Then it started to trickle with rain. We were in a spot not suitable for putting up a tarp, so our individual umbrellas came out to keep us sheltered from the rain. The umbrellas are great, but can only handle so much... Meanwhile I started our dinner prep, my not yet world famous bacon and cheese hamburgers. Light rain came down while I worked the grill but it did not seem too bad. Shelagh remained safely under her umbrella, her turn would come when the dishes needed doing, one of us washes while the other dries. Soon the park ranger would be here with some firewood for us... We ate our delicious burgers under our umbrellas. Some red wine calmed the nerves as it became a bit chilly. Then I put some water on to boil for the dishes. The dishes done 20 minutes later we huddled under our umbrellas waiting for the park ranger and finally at around 20:00 I got into the car to go looking for this person. Just a few campsites down the hill she was chatting with another camper. I guess everybody wants to chat about the weather and what not. She soon arrived at our site and we paid for one night and three bundles of very wet firewood. We did our best to get the stuff lit but we were not very successful and called it a night at 20:45. It rained all night and that gets into your bones. But we were warm and dry and although I did not sleep much, Shelagh slept well. We got up well rested and ready for a new day...

Soaked in Sooke

 

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