Across the mountains to Lake Cowichan

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Well, we did go to White Rock (down by the US border). Not a particularly inspiring place: although, to be fair, there are not many places that inspire when it's howling a gale and pouring with rain. So we had just one night (and fish & chips) there, and then caught the ferry across to Vancouver Island.

We spend the first couple of days in Victoria. We found a lovely RV park right down by the harbour (although, obviously, we were far too tight to pay the extra for a pitch with a harbour view!) We went on a marathon cycle ride: it was supposed to be a gentle peddle round the coast, but 28 miles later we realised that the scale on the map was somewhat deceptive.

We left Victoria and headed north (slightly) to Goldstream Provincial Park. And for the first time we spend a night in the van with no hookup (i.e. no electricity, no mains water, etc). The site was lovely, halfway up a hill and surrounded by trees. We were pretty much the only campers in the bit of the site that we stayed (all told I think there were only about 4 others in the entire park). We decided to go all Ray Mears (stop laughing at the back) and build a campfire to cook our tea. It was a ROARING success (Do you see what I did there...? I'm wasted in this job, I tell you). So jacket potatoes, bacon wrapped steaks & turkey sausages were the order of the day.

Friday we left Goldstream and drove down to the coast. It was a lovely sunny day, so we had a wander round East Sooke Regional Park, and lazed in the sun in a sheltered cove, and then drove further up the coast to French Beach Provincial Park. This was even more basic than Goldstream (which at least had a shower block). We tried again with the campfire thing - although the wood was somewhat wetter (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it) so it took a LOT longer to light than the first night.

Yesterday morning we left French Beach, and went further up the west coast, stopping for a stroll through the forest and down to the beach at Mystic Beach and China Beach. We saw a seal (very briefly), and again we had fantastic sunny weather.

We then set off towards Port Renfrew to find a place to camp. Unfortunately the campsite we found on the interweb has now closed down (even though their website hasn't!) and we really weren't impressed with the other two sites in town: so we said hasta la vista to Port Renfrew and drove across the mountains to Lake Cowichan (which is where we are right now). We're now planning to spend 3-4 days here before heading to the East Coast for a few days.

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Photos

White Rock pier
Just before it emptied the skies

Camp fire
Make your own jokes up about that!

Harris Canyon
On the road from Port Renfrew to Lake Cowichan

Comments

[Isla]

Really - cooked?
Cooking the team, eh?? I think you need to revisit your leadership skills training! Team Woods got out whilst it was still safe then.

[Craig n Mark]

Cooking the team
Ah yes, good spot! Corrected now.