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Published: August 20th 2012
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After an uncomfortable Tuesday night (burning legs😊 I drove the truck down to Victoria for a couple of days. Stopped at Cathedral Grove to inspect the arboreal spectacularium. (made that one up, don't bother checking the dictionary 😊 a grove of giant trees. Some very impressive specimens. The Big Tree ( a lot of thought went into that one!) was over 70m tall and 800 years old. Lots of tourists too.
About 100 miles later I pulled up at Steve Drane HD dealership, Victoria. The only dealer on the island. It became apparent that that last sentence was very significant. Island prices, captive market and HST tax! Expecting to spend a wedge I was very disappointed: limited choice, high prices as bad as UK, (ie: rain suit I bought in Denver for $200 was C$300), no items in my size. They didn't even have a dealership patch! everyone has a dealership patch for goodness sake! Approximate total of 10 bikes in the showroom, mostly preowned. Pleasant helpful, apologetic staff though to be fair; just couldn't sell me anything more than a standard dealer T shirt, not happy. I shan't even upload a photo 😞 In my defence, I wasn't being
picky either, from the wishlist I made in advance, they had zip!
Never mind, on to Victoria and found the Embassy Hotel adjacent to Government House without a problem. Nice enough mid range hotel/motel and handy for all the local sights in the Inner Harbour area. Victoria is a mix of modern Canada and old England. Some very expensive residences on the bay and up Nob Hill. Plenty to see and do on the waterfront. Having walked miles I ate out, Japanese stir fried Teryaki noodles, pork Gyoza. Yum.
Next morning I got on the Hop on Hop off bus tour to sus out the sights. Hopped off to see Craigdarroch Castle (OKish) and then the Royal BC Museum & IMAX cinema (v good). I managed to miss the hottest part of the dat while inside but it was still blisteringly hot when I came out. Miles of walking sightseeing wore me out. After a rest at the hotel I ate in a really good Italian: mushroom & spinach salad followed by seafood linguini. Yum again!
Now, I had a beer in a typical sports bar. Asked the bar owner where I could buy a Canadian rugby
shirt like those hanging on the walls. I explained it would be for Graham. He suggested shops to me then out of the blue decided to give me one from his collection, a current Canada 7's shirt, signed by the whole squad!! I was amazed by his generosity. Now I'll have to send him one of ours. Canadians are really warm welcoming people. Don't tell Graham. He won't read this anyway!
Friday I drove to Sooke on the SW coast, thought there'd be more than there was so didnt hang around and drove back north. Highway traffic was busy but easy to negotiate. Their speed limits are tedious though. In town 40/50kph, then 60kph on b roads, 80kph main roads and if you're lucky a nose bleed inducing 90/110kph on the dual carriageway highways. Yes kph not mph! Stopped in Duncan (City of Totems) took some pics of totems. In Nanaimo I toured the bay front park watching the seaplanes come and go like taxis at Temple Meads!
I would have stopped for a meal but had no appetite as it was too hot to eat (nearly 40c according to the Weather Channel) so drove on back over
the mountain to Sproat Lake where it was a lot cooler and had popcorn shrimp, ceasar salad and a Mexican burger in the F&D. Hmm..
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Rik
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Trip update 20/08
Mike, sounds bloody fantastic particularly the food, mouth watering. Certainly sounds as though you are having the weather that we should have had last year. Looking forward to the next update. Have fun. Cheers