Farewell Vancouver, Hello Vancouver Island

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Well today I FINALLY departed the lower mainland of British Columbia. I spent yesterday in a somewhat uninspiring town called White Rock. To be fair, the town probably looks a lot better when it's not chucking it down with rain and howling a gale. But given that even the chip shops close at 3pm on a rainy weekday afternoon at this time of year...

White Rock does have quite a nice little pier; and (for the railway fans among you - you know who you are...) the railway line runs all the way along the sea front (á la Dawlish), but other than that - well, let's just say it was a convenient stopping off point.

So this morning, I tried (and failed) to head off early to the ferry. I somewhat underestimated just how far it was to walk to the supermarket. I ended up on the 13:00 sailing from Vancouver (Tsawwassen) to Vancouver Island (Swartz Bay). Even though today was the fourth time I have done the journey, and I last made the crossing just a couple of weeks ago when my friends were here, I still get impressed by the way the big old car ferry passes between the little islands. Particularly the point where the two ferries pass each other in the narrowest of channels.

Still getting used to the van. Despite Caroline's advice, I'm still not used to having quite so much width. I quite like Karen's idea to give it a name. Any suggestions? Best I came up with today was "Harvey" (as in RV/Harvey... D'ya see what I did there? No? OK, I give up.)

Anyway, now in Victoria for a couple of days. My current plan is to head west from here and then travel north up along the coast to Port Renfrew, before cutting back east across to Nanaimo, via Lake Cowichan. But I'll make my mind up in the next couple of days. Overall I'm planning to spend the remainder of May on the Island (ending up in Port Hardy): so I really am in no rush. It's tough, but I am coping.

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Photos

White Rock pier
Just before the rain started

White Rock promenade
With railway line on left hand side

Blackie Spit, White Rock
Looking north towards downtown Vancouver