Esquimalt Lagoon & Parry's Bay.

 

Esquimalt Lagoon, looking from the causeway over the lagoon towards the north.

 

These swans are truly majestic as they glide by. I think these are Mute Swans. There is a lot of wildlife on the lagoon, swans, various ducks and birds, while we were walking along the lagoon we saw a belted kingfisher - I wasn't quick enough to get a photo and otters playing in the middle of the water - too far away to get a photo I'm afraid.

 Two birds I did manage to get, a Northern Pintail and a Black Oyster Catcher

This Glaucous- Winged Gull is trying to break open the Clam by continually picking up and dropping the clam on the rocks, eventually it succeeds.

 

This we think is a Northwestern Crow.  Didn't know a lot about birds before this Canadian trip but am learning - thanks to the iBird app.   

We left this lagoon and drove a short distance west to Witty's Lagoon unfortunately we turned into the wrong car park which took us to the headland over looking the bay not the lagoon, still got some nice shots of the Bay.  Witty's Lagoon will have to wait for another visit.

Evan wrong turnings bring you to wonderful scenery.

Kirkby Lonsdale a blast from the past

Todays blog was going to be about a walk around a couple of the lagoons here in Victoria - sea birds and stuff, but when we got back to the trailer for a late lunch I received this email link from middle daughter Emily - about the recent happenings in a sleepy northern market town Kirkby Lonsdale, which is my home town.  The article appeared in the Daily Mail. There is also a link to Kirkby Lonsdale's own website.   Apologies to the folks in and around Kirkby, your probably sick to death of it all.                                          
Enjoy the pictures.http:/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478845/Pictured-Sleepy-market-town-transformed-eerie-backdrop-BBC-adaption-classic-novel-Jamaica-Inn.html
     The picture of the river valley at the beginning of our blog is a scene called Ruskins View taken from the church yard in Kirkby looking across the River Lune to the fells (hills are called fells in this part of England) in the distance.  Ruskin called this the best view in England hence its name.                                                                  

A drive alongside the Juan de Fuca Strait to Port Renfrew.

A glorious Sunday morning blue skies and sunshine, perfect for a drive to Port Renfrew along the coastal road, its a great driving road, up and down, lots of corners and a lot in the open, not just driving through a tunnel of trees.

 

This was our first stop I think its the French river, a lovely peaceful scene, walking along we reach the ocean.

 

Looking back up river.

 

This young guy fishing, you can just see him on the left of the previous photo, the start young out here.

 Looking out to sea 'The Juan de Fuca Strait'

 

Our next stop was River Jordan where these brave people were surfing and paddle boarding. The coast of Washington State can just be sen in the distance.

 

The little cafe where we had lunch at Jordan River.

 

Our next stop, we wondered what was over this blind hill, would it be a parking or a nasty drop down to the Pacific.

 

A view over the strait to Washington State.

 

End of the road looking out the San Juan River at Port Renfrew.

 

This heron sunbathing on a log by the pier. walking back along the pier we came across some totems.

 

A couple of pretty pics. to end a great day out.

Elk River.

We are back in Victoria after our trip up the coast, on our last day in Campbell River we visited Elk River. This turned out to be one of the best walks we have done, we began on the higher stretch and were lucky to be there when BC Hydro opened the gates on the dam.

 

This resulted in turning the river into a roaring torrent, the site was magnificent.

 

Watching this water rushing through the rocks was worth the trip to Campbell River.

 

I think this is just below the dam, the lake edge was littered with dead fish, the gulls were having a great feast.  Not sure why there was dead fish all around, perhaps they came with the water from the lake and the shear force of the water killed them.

 

The last big drop, from here on it was just a normal fast flowing river.

 

Lovely reflections on the water, hard to believe a couple of hundred metres upstream its a raging torrent.  

We will be in Victoria for the next couple of months, relaxing and catching up on some culture, it will make a change from upping sticks and moving on every few days.

Campbell River Waterfront.

A change for todays blog, a rest from looking at trees and waterfalls, mostly man-made sites today. The waterfront runs along Discovery Channel, lots of boats, recreation in the marina and a large fishing fleet, which pleased Ruth no end as the fleet in Whitby is tiny compared to when her Dad was fishing from there.

 

One of the fishing boats, Quadra Island on the other side of the boat obscured by the fog, this fog has been around for 6 days now, Ruths sister wanted to know how it compared with a Whitby sea fret so Val you tell me.

 

Lots of these wonderful carvings along the waterfront.

 

This amazing carving is 

in an old burial ground, the tent-canopy behind are part of the cruise terminal.
                         






     






This totem is at the entrance to the ferry terminal to Quadra Island.

In 2011 there was a chainsaw carving competition, these 3 carvings were the top three.   Top left was third, top right second and the winner was this chap on the left.















On the other side of the road is the float plane airport with lots of DH- Beavers in various states of repair, I counted nine.

Lovely old plane.

 

This one has been modified - a three bladed propeller -  the radial engine is original I think, will have to consult Google about the propeller change.            This one is missing its tail plane.

             

The final photo of a totem pole on the waterfront.

Strathcona.

Today we visited The Strathcona Provincial Park. I'm not sure what to say about this park in a way we were a little disappointed , its wild, stunning, quite magnificent, I think to be enjoyed by fitter and younger folks than Ruth and myself. There is a distinct lack of pull offs to stop and admire the view, trees have been allowed to grow between the road and the lakes resulting in making it imposable to see the lakes. Wild it is, easy to admire its not.  We did find a couple of pull offs to take some pics. though.

 

This is Upper Campbell Lake looking east.

 

The south side of the lake.

 

I've put this tree in cause it looks nice and the frustrating part of our day is about to begin. We continued on to Gold River stopping a few times following trails that finished at dry river beds or cliffs to climb. We turned round and drove back to narrows where Campbell Lake joins with Buttle Lake, took the Buttle Lake turn found a couple of spots to pull over and took a few photos.

 

The time is around 5pm and the sun has gone over the mountain.

 

A little further up the lake, looking back.

 

Last pic. taken standing on the hydro dam looking to the west, around 6pm.

A bit of a frustrating day with not a lot of photos to show for it. Tomorrow we are going to visit The Elk River weather permitting.

Englishman River Falls.

Saturday was another foggy day and the sun never broke through but set off anyway to look at some more waterfalls on The Englishman River, near Parksville.

There is an upper and lower falls, the upper as the river begins its drop down to the sea, a series of rapids and then the final drop before the river enters the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland Of British Columbia.

We began at the upper falls and the walked down to the lower. The river begins its descent here.

Cathedral Grove & Port Alberni.

 

After Qualicum Falls we headed west on highway 4 for a wonder round this place, this was the real deal in rain forests "awesome" really does describe it.

 

 You go from looking at this monster , the largest tree in the forest to things like this - - a really weird looking mushroom.

  

Lots of unusual sights, this root system exposed and this Western Cedar, what a great tree this

 would be in the bottom of your garden, a natural playhouse for the kids.

 

Theres not a lot of light and then you come across a clearing and you see this in front of you.

 

This storm did a lot of damage in the park, but I suppose thats just nature going about its business; it does let you see how nature repairs and rebuilds.  

We still had a couple of hours of daylight left so decided to go to Port Alberni a small town at the top of a long inlet from the Pacific called The Barclay Sound.

 

Not sure what I expected to see here, perhaps a small logging and fishing village - not the case - A big marina, a pulp mill, a really impressive looking waterfront, a nice town and the light was out of this world, these photos were taken after 5pm. This boat sails up and down the sound doing a mail, supply and tourist run, it originally did the same thing in the Norwegian Fiords.

 

A bit of modern art. Lots of this on the waterfront.

Looking west down the sound, the Pacific is about 60km. away.  

A place we will try to get back to.