Sooke Day Three

On our last day we cycled part of the Galloping Goose Trail.  Being a former railway line, it was fairly flat, except when it dipped down to a bridge over a stream, and back up again.  The last time we'd been on the trail it was Autumn, with colourful leaves on the trees, and crunchy leaves on the trail.  This time everything was so green: the moss on the rocks, the grass, and the new leaves on the trees.

The trail in Spring  (Flickr photo by Brian)

The trail goes by Sooke Basin, the East end of the harbour

Some of the many wildflowers

At the Roche Cove picnic spot we met two serious cyclists with heavily loaded touring bikes - four panniers on each bike.  From London, England, they've been cycling for 15 months!  They started in Patagonia, Argentina, and except for a boat between Colombia and Panama, have cycled all the way up to British Columbia!  We didn't get a photo of them and their bikes, but you can see their pictures on Instagram .  They are @cycleforthesoul on Instagram.

We carried on to Matheson Lake and found a bench high above the sparkling lake, and ate our lunch.

I took my old bike, not the ebike, as the trail was fairly flat

Then it was time to head back to the car and hightail it to the ferry.  It was a great mini vacation, with good weather, great hiking and fun cycling.  It left us wishing we could stay longer as there are so many places in the area to explore.  Next time!

Sooke Day Two

It was a bit overcast when we set off to go hiking.  We had to stop first though, at a renowned bakery cafe called Shirley Delicious - it lived up to its name!  The delicious part I mean.  The cafe wasn't named after the baker, it was the area.  I thought maybe the community was named after a person named Shirley, but no - it was named after a town named Shirley in England, in 1894, when they needed a name for the first post office.

The I in Shirley on the sign is meant to be the nearby lighthouse

It was hard to decide what to have with our coffee, there were so many yummy looking choices!

We had to try one of these muffins!

I had the chocolate hazelnut croissant and Brad had the almond - fabulous!

And we had to get these to go

While we were there, a woman with a camera was busy taking all kinds of photos.  I asked her if it was for a magazine.  No, she said, it was for her blog on niche places, and gave me the address.  Have a look to see her much more professional photos!  See if you can spot me in one of her pictures.

Suitably fuelled up, we drove on to the Mystic Beach trail parking lot.  There we chatted with a couple heading off with their large white dog - a retriever / lab cross.  The trail was through the forest, with many exposed roots, some boggy areas, boardwalks, and downed trees, so slow going.  Soon though we caught up to the couple with the dog - he was lying down refusing to cross the metal suspension bridge.  Later on, from other hikers, we learned that they turned back, unable to coax the dog to walk onto the bridge.

The metal walkway was hard on dogs paws...

Our first glimpse of the water

The waterfall at the south end of the beach

Walking towards the north end of the beach, we saw an otter running down to the water; it was so fast we didn't have a chance to get a photo.  We watched him swimming, coming up for air, and diving down again.

The crows were gathering bits of cedar bark for nesting material

The cave at the north end had many balanced rocks, and also a swing!

Of course we had to construct our own...

We both tried out the swing

Sooke Day One

We caught the ferry to Vancouver Island to start our three day getaway to Sooke.

Flickr photo by William Davies 

It was a beautiful sunny day, and once there, it was time to get on our bikes and go for a ride.  I'd always wanted to see the luxury hotel Sooke Harbour House, so we set off, with that as our destination.

Much to our surprise a movie was being filmed there, and everywhere you looked there were cables, black curtains, ladders and equipment.

The entrance to the hotel

When we went around to the side, we could see that they were filming a scene on the water side of the hotel.  We were told the film was The Last Bridesmaid, and we could see the actors on the lawn.  As we watched, the bride and her wedding photographer walked from a tree to the hotel, over and over.

We watched the filming, then went inside

Inside, we admired the art on the walls, the original wood floors, and read a short hotel history.  It was built as a small hotel in 1926, and subsequent owners added on more rooms.  From the photos we saw, it looks like a favourite spot for weddings these days.

At the entrance to the elegant dining room, with a wall of windows overlooking the ocean, we were stopped by a movie person, and told that if they started filming while we were in the room we would have to exit.  But we were on the far side of the room when filming started, so we were told to stay put as yet again the actors strolled from the tree to the hotel, and we couldn't move until we heard "CUT"!

The elegant dining room overlooks the lawn and the ocean (photo by Rachel Black on Flickr)

Last day on Mayne

We decided on a hike for our last day, and chose St. John Point, on the southwest corner of the island.
The trail was a loop, and we gravitated to the ocean side as a starting point.  The trail to the beach was wide, but finding the start of the loop was a challenge.  Finally we spotted the narrow entrance to the woods path on a hill above the water.  The views were amazing.

We stopped a lot to take photos

We could see Pender Island to the west and further along, Saturna to the south.  We saw seals and huge sea lions - the sound of their breaths when they came up for air carried across the water.

The trail was narrow and rocky, and we went slowly; much to our surprise we rounded a corner and saw two chairs!

A good spot to rest and admire the view

Further on we looked down and saw a heron standing on a mass of kelp, fishing.  We watched and took pictures until he flew away to another bunch of kelp.

What's that we said - is that a heron?

We watched it catch and eat a small fish

It flew to another kelp bed

We reached the end of the ocean portion of the trail and realized it was later than we thought, and we had a ferry to catch!  So after only a few bites of a late lunch we headed into the forest.  Luckily the path through the woods was easy walking and soon it turned onto an old logging road.  We got back to the car with lots of time to get to the ferry terminal.  We'd had a wonderful three days.

We had parked beside Horton Bay and returned to see the late afternoon sun creating shadows and reflections on the water

A long ride on day two

Day two was another beautiful sunny day and we set off on our bikes in the morning, heading west and then north towards Henderson Park.  The road ended at the park, but we thought we could probably cycle through to the road on the other side on the hiking trails marked on our map.

An old barn in a field just before Henderson Park

The road ended, and the trail was like a lane heading uphill, so things were looking good.  But at the top of the hill the lane ended.  There was a picnic table, some signage, and a tiny trail heading down the other side of the hill.  Hmmm... things were about to get difficult!

Captain Henderson was buried on Mayne Island

At first the trail (or goat track) wound through a forested area, but then there was a rocky twisty part - walking my heavy e-bike downhill, alternately braking and letting it roll, moving the pedal back so it wouldn't scape my leg, was rather tricky.  We went through salal, then huge ferns, across a boardwalk, and down some stairs.  We stopped to watch a big red headed woodpecker on a tree.  Finally we reached a lane called Punch's Alley, which took us to the road on the other side of the park.  Whew!

We arrived at Dinner Bay and rode down to the Japanese Garden; it was created by volunteers to commemorate the Japanese families who settled on the island and were an important part of the community between 1900 and 1942, when they were interned.  They had made up a third of the total population, fishing and growing tomatoes and other crops in greenhouses.

The bridge to the island in the Japanese Garden

We headed south, and came to a bucolic farm, with longhorn cattle in the field, and a sign announcing that Fernhollow Farm had fresh farm goods for sale, and was open.  Who could resist?  The narrow lane up to the buildings had deep gravel on each tire track, so I was careful to ride on the strip of grass in the middle.  But about half way up the grass ended, and in the gravel my bike swerved this way and that and soon I toppled over.  Luckily I came away with only scrapes and sore spots.  I knew I'd soon have bruises on my right hip and elbow.  We had a good chat with the farmer, and came away with eggs, blackberry jam and frozen apple juice.

Brad at the entrance to the farm

Ferry to Mayne Island

For our two night getaway to Mayne Island, we loaded the bikes on the car, and headed to the ferry.  We were on the island by noon, parked at Miners Bay, and walked out on the pier to look at the boats, disturbing many seagulls on the railings.  The Springwater Lodge is beside the wharf - it opened in 1892 and back then was full of miners on their way to the goldfields.

The Springwater Lodge

After lunch we got on our bikes and headed to the lighthouse on Georgina Point, on the shores of Active Pass.

Me walking my bike in front of the lighthouse

We carried on, cycling back to the car via Campbell Bay; it was a lovely ride on our first afternoon, on quiet country roads.  We saw three small deer.

The ride out

It was a sunny five hour ride out, with the same river crossings, and a different trail at the end that took us past a trappers cabin.

The wagon and team crossed downstream from us, following the wagon trail

Cutting watermelon with a machete, at our lunch stop

One last mountain photo...