Having fulfilled my seasonal cycling goals (Lochside to Swartz Bay, and Galloping Goose/E&N Rail trails to Sooke), I decided to try some of the recent additions to the CRD bike lane additions. Went across downtown several ways & eventually, following Fort Road & Cadboro Bay Road I wound up in Willows Beach. Returned home through Estivan Village, Haultain Street (past my dentist office!), and the whole length of Vancouver Street. Quiet peddle through Beacon Hill Park (baby peafowl & young buck deer!) to Dallas Road & home.
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Starting with a new gallery on an old wedge shaped corner of our neighbourhood. Gallery 106 recently opened indoor and outdoor art spaces.
Finally, after years of fenced off space, a statue and signage appeared along the Laurel Point walkway. Not new, but the bike traffic counter stood out statuesquely today. new angles on old buildings and my new favourite pic of a favourite horse & carriage. Well, our day started with our usual scenic walk out to the lighthouse. Coho ferry heading out. Basking harbourseal on rock. White jellyfish jelly-ing. Then we drove up one side of the Saanich peninsula &down the other. Stops at Island View Provincial Park (heron & misty Mount Baker pics.) Lunch at RnR Diner in Sanichton. After lunch spontaneous stop & walk at Gowlland-Todd Provincial Park (on the edge of Butchart Gardens!) A little old marina there has a bunch of nesting boxes for purple martins to use. They are a large swallow, but as it is the wrong season for nesting, we did not see any. In the spirit of being whimsical (AND avoiding ferry traffic!) we crossed the peninsula again and found Phyllis Park to wander in good views of mount Baker. Last stop on the tour was Cattle Point. An auspicious start to a big day! Jan & I did our usual early morning walk out to the breakwater lighthouse. Great Blue Heron. Fried-egg jellyfish. Shorebirds feeding on the inter-tidal stone blocks of the breakwater (Sanderlings, maybe?) And a harbour seal high & dry & lazy on an exposed rock. But wait! There's more... This is the night of my first concert in years. (Since way before this thing called a pandemic!!!) Thanks to the Victoria Jazz Society Facebook page as I won a pair of tickets to see William Prince and Calum Graham at Ship's Point outdoor stage! Ed came down from Nanaimo to attend with me. Only minor grumbling about the length of the walk from home & back! :) All good! Just as we were leaving our yard a band of raccoons was coming in from scavenging the night away. It was not quite light enough for me to capture good pictures & videos, but they seemed to be amused by us as they scampered away up tree trunks - and then chased each other back down!
Sail boats headed out towards the semi-permanent fog-bank, and a heron practised patience in fishing on a dock. After our early morning lighthouse walk, and watching one of our regular cruise ships pull into port, we decided to drive out Sooke way. When we got there there was enough fog to discourage me from expending too much gasoline to go further. We settled on a foggy walk out to the end of Whiffin Spit. Interesting effects for photos. Dawn walk. Calm waters. Low tide. Lots of the fru-fru orange sea-cucumbers. AND - lots of grey & purples sea-urchins! Don't usually see them, except at really low tides.
Lots of little fishing boats out - methinks must still be coho-salmon season. After picking blackberries at our favourite spot, I filled up the car with Costco gas, and snapped a pic of the vi of buildings where the mountain of rock was levelled. Terra-forming on the section seems complete. I started off slow to conserve energy, and stopped along the E&N Trail on the way west to update some building mural pictures. Got lost trying to follow bike path detour signs, but i found my way to Royal Roads/Haley Castle, so all was good.
Got to the station at Roche Cove Park in fair time & pressed on toward Sooke. My goal was the highway crosswalk near Sickleback Cafe. I remembered there being 2 wicked sets of up & down hills with bridges at the bottoms. I especially remember one of them as being a place where, about 10 years ago, I broke a bicycle chain & had to push my pedal bike all the way home!. Well, the hills are still there & the grades have not improved. I'll only do this section once per season. I made my goal & a little further. Enough to discover a new parking lot for trail access. I plan to put the bike on the car rack, unload at Ludlow & cycle the rest of the way to the Sooke Potholes. Someday. Maybe. Not soon. Tired & saddle-sore, but satisfied with performance. :) We parked at Vic-West Village and walked over the Bay Street bridge to downtown. Good view of the Selkirk Trestle, but we did not go that way. I had to do a store visit to MEC to pick up an online sale item, and the we headed for the 'new' bridge to return to the car. Had to wait as the bridge was raised to let a tug & barge to pass. I highly recommend this loop walk for those who don't like to park downtown!
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January 2024
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