Vancouver Island from the land and air

Martin's hosting continued rather well. The weather was a tad overcast but that didn't stop us from visiting the local marina and seeing how lifejackets (OK personal flotation devices) are just sitting in the open, not secured and ready for kids to use:

We tried to imagine how long they would last if that was in a UK location. Our guess is that they would be listed on eBay within a day. It was strange to see the fishing boats and pleasure craft intermingled on some of the pontoon areas. We can only begin to imagine the smell and level of ensuing bird poo. We had a few nights in Brighton many years ago when we were dumped onto a fishing boat berth. Cleaning up afterwards was not fun.

After some marina and local areas wandering, we were taken to the nearby Courtenay Airpark. Was Martin trying to get rid of us early? Nope, no commercial flights from there. It was to see their hanger and Cessna. The captain duly drooled over both and this stunning Beaver floatplane sitting outside:

Apparently it had a "moment" and was subject to significant repairs, now in pristine condition. The Airpark has both a runway and an area for floatplane launch and recovery. Martin and Inge's Cessna was a floatplane but now lives permanently on wheels. Too many logs floating in the river, tricky insurance etc were reported as the reason. 

A visit to the hardware store for some critical items  allowed us to see how seriously some folks take the whole Halloween thing. Or at least, how seriously the retailers take the profit opportunity:

Many were animated as per this video clip:

and this one too:

We were told that the store put up with a busload of kids being delivered just to admire the display. Whilst we were there, it was mainly retired kids having fun with the merchandise. The store staff were tolerant with us though.

Just along the road from their house is a guy who is a talented and inventive metal worker.  Here is the display outside his place:

The detailing is incredible - even down to fitting lights:

One of those strange hobbies that brings amusement / wonder to others.

After another Cordon Bleu dinner from Martin's fair hands, the weather had perked up a lot and so we were able to take advantage of it and give the Cessna an outing. Well, not "we" - Martin of course. We just helped open the hanger doors:

to reveal the very cute Cessna:

Yes, Martin looks cute too, we know, unlike the captain:

Fired up:

fuelled up, the crew was loaded into the back seat ready for her first ever flight in a light aircraft:

The fixed grin is probably due to her prior comment that "Martin is the one guy I would feel comfortable with flying one of these". (For those who don't know him, Martin was a Canadian Air Force pilot, then flew for Cathay Pacific based in Hong Kong ending up as a base captain on Airbus 330 / 350s) . Captain Rae, the owner of the Nordhavn 47 called Albatross who is a confirmed Boeing pilot type calls Airbuses "Poxy Frogbuses". We guess that he would approve of the Cessna yoke, no hi-tech fangled side sticks here:

Our trip was tremendous. The expert local guide showed us the many islands in the area and we could only gawp in awe. As you can see from the screen, it was a "free expression" trip, no specific flight plan:

The many islands and inlets make the area a boating paradise with stunning views and vistas from the air:

Heading back, we passed through Comox airspace, here are the runways of the joint military / commercial airport:

Getting permission from the air traffic controllers to pass through their airspace was remarkably simple as the place has very few flights each day. Along the coast you also get an aerial view of Martin and Inge's house:

For those who are tempted to buy it, you will be getting the second one from the right on the clifftop. Wonderful setting.

There was a plan to land at an airfield on the mainland for lunch but the cloud base over the hills there prevented it. Well, prevented taking off again which would have been inconvenient in the extreme. So, our trip looked like this on the navigation tablet:

but way way better in real life. It was one of those "never expected to see or experience that" days. the crew loved it too, recognising Martin's quiet competence and feeling very comfortable on board. Truly unforgettable stuff.

Heading for Comox and being pampered

During our last night in Nairn Falls campsite it rained. Rather a lot really. You could listen to it hammering down on the roof of the Airstream and that was quite comforting in a strange way. We kind of wanted it to stop before we headed off in the morning though and it did oblige, sort of.

We hitched up the truck to the trailer in almost dry conditions and headed off for the run down to the ferry terminal. This is how Mr Google sees it:

only we stopped off to the south of Whistler to empty the grey and black water tanks at the handy refuse station. All very quiet there - no queue, no fuss. We were becoming old hands at this, just as the skill would no longer be needed. Story of the captain's life really.

The trip down to sea level had. obviously, to be mainly downhill. Sure enough it was and in some stretches of the road it felt more like driving down a river. Loads of water was coming downhill with us and from time to time on steeper downhill stretches of road, we took advantage of the ability to brake the trailer a little bit more to keep it stable. A strange concept for Europeans who are used to over-run brakes on trailers that do exactly what they want to when they want to. The North American system which is electrically controlled, not just through a big spring in the trailer hitch, gives you controllable options. That was good to help the stability of the rig - of course there are benefits and drawbacks to both systems as regulated by local laws. 

We were in plenty of time for our ferry and decided to stop at a nice spot for a while to admire the view (the rain had stopped) and relax. The last bit of the journey was truly whacky. This is how, coming south, you approach the ferry port:

Yup, a long run past it, then a strange loop off the main road and back up north. At first we thought Mr Google had blow a few chips and was going crazy or been hacked by the Russians / China but no, it has the strangest approach to a ferry terminal we've ever seen. Having followed the route and getting almost a priority check-in thanks to our overall length, we joined the ubiquitous queue. You will see that the Horseshoe Bay ferry port is no grander than any other:

The crossing was fine though, here is a borrowed image of the large ferry:

and the view from the window as we headed into Vancouver sound and across to Vancouver Island:

The coffee on board was, as you would expect, average. The pastry offerings fell into the same category. The space and seating were fine though for what was classed as a full ferry. We'd booked a specific sailing thanks to advice from Martin and Inge ages beforehand and are glad we had. They were quoting wait times of over 4 hours for possible space on another ship.

Here is the route across to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island and Mr Google shows the timing spot on:

Owing to a mix of rain and dodgy decision making about a turn off, we missed going into the Nanaimo car wash area that had a bay big enough for us to pressure wash off the truck and Airstream. As it turned out, that was not a bad thing as more rain showers meant we would have messed it up again as we headed up the island to Comox. A quick fuel stop there to brim the truck ready for hand back and we duly arrived chez Martin and Inge. Only Inge was off working - flying her helicopter around the north of the country in the kind of territory you see on wildlife programs, so poor Martin had to entertain and feed us. He did both royally.

If you fancy a rather nice pad on Vancouver island then their place is up for sale, it  looks like this:

and comes highly recommended by us. As does Martin's cooking and hosting..

We had safely returned the truck and trailer to their home base after the most amazing time, seeing and exploring places in a way that we never ever thought would be possible. Somehow it didn't feel like the end of an adventure though as we had a week ahead of us to catch up with our hosts and see some of Vancouver Island. 

Nairn Falls and the strange place known as Whistler

Sad as we were to leave Juniper Beach, we knew that there was a ferry booked and on the way, a couple of nights in another interesting camping site - Nairn Falls. It was a longer trip there than most of our runs but again, through some great scenery and on pretty quiet roads too. We made the compulsory coffee and cake stop in Lilooet where we also topped up the truck so it didn't feel left out. We get carrot cake, it gets unleaded gas. Not quite as exciting. For info, petrol (gas) prices were around 35 cents per litre more in the remote areas than around Calgary. That is around a 25% hike. We've seen way worse % hikes in the Outer Hebrides where they can kind of justify the costs of shipping the stuff in and something close to that in Britain's grim / expensive motorway service areas.

The "Artisan Bakery" in Lilooet was as good as the reviews left about it on various social media. For once, the hype matched the reality and the queue when we arrived proved the point too. For a flavour of the place have a look at this Facebook page link. An elderly lady in a wheelchair was pushed into the queue by what we strongly suspect was her daughter, who then proceeded to buy her the biggest pastry in the place. Normal ones were huge but this was obscene. Poor mum attempted to eat some if it, then the daughter, with quite a glint in her eye, said that she would wrap it up, take it home and have it later on. We fear that this game has been played out many times before - mum's purse was used to pay too.

Walking back to the truck and Airstream along the main road we had to admire the colour choice of this B and B owner, which was reflected in the name of the establishment:

It really did not enhance his oldtimer car though:

All in all not quite to our taste but it showed serious focus and determination:

The rest of the trip went well until the crew squealed just as we were at a junction outside Pemberton. The captain momentarily wondered what was wrong. No oncoming traffic, we had only just started to move across the adjoining road.  The Airstream was following us, no funny noises from the truck. Then from watching her outstretched finger and deciphering the squeaks she was making, he saw a bear just ambling across the road towards the town. The crew had seen so may little rivers and stream on the way, checked them for bears fishing for salmon and never seen one. Then, heading into a little town where we guess that food scraps could be found, we spot one. Such is life.

Narin Falls campsite was very quiet indeed. Few folks there (the season was coming to an end) and lots of free pitches. They were all well spaced and secluded anyway so it felt as though we were in our own bit of forest. At the camp entrance there was a nice sign saying that there had been bear activity in the area that week and from the notes it sounded very "normal". So, we followed the caution notices on the picnic tables:

and dug out the spray just in case.

It was a great spot and of course, with no audience, we backed the trailer into our space with no trouble. Typical:

Very peaceful spot indeed and we slept well after the now regular BBQ dinner.

We'd booked 2 nights there so we could drive into Whistler and explore it for a day. There was good and bad in that it turned out. First of all we found the local waste disposal site in town which also had a sanitation dump facility for RV's and trailers. We would need that the following day as there was no facility at the camp site. Pit toilets and nothing more. Close by was a good local hardware store where the captain bought some stuff to fix the things we'd broken on the Airstream. Actually broken is a bit unfair. We found that a domed nut had come off one of the bolts securing the awning frame and when we checked another one was loose too. So, a new nut / bolt combo and some threadlocker was purchased together with some BBQ cleaner to spruce it up after our final meal and prepare to hand it back to Martin and Inge.

Then we wandered into one of the best bakeries just across the street:

Too much choice. Way too much. We ended up buying a couple of raspberry and white chocolate scones that we consumed back at  the campsite later. They were very very good indeed. Up to the standard of the Olive Tree café in Bangor, Northern Ireland and that is quite an accolade.

We then drove into the "Village" of Whistler stopped in an expensive car park and were suitably unimpressed with the place. It was kind of a big outlet shopping village with hotels around it and a Disneyworld feel:

The gondola trips up the mountain were not operating - we were in the dead season between summer holiday folks and the arrival of the ski tourists. Shame but so be it and that made the place quieter. We had to take the typical touristy picture of the Olympic rings:

Sorry about that. Whistler was one of the venues for the 2010 Winter Olympics and trades on that rather well. After a good walk around we decided that Whistler was not like the rest of the places we'd visited and not in a good way either. Kind of a make-believe place after the reality of the Rockies and other national park areas. Glad we saw it, not sad to leave it though.

We were a bit sad that evening though. Firstly it rained a lot so no BBQ (meaning we didn't give it a proper final tidy up) and it was going to be our last night sleeping in the Airstream. As you can see from the table, we consoled ourselves with a large bottle of water. #lifeontheedge:

It was a rather inviting place to be and it had enabled us to see all sorts of wonderful places:.

in rather a lot of comfort. We were going to miss this lifestyle.

Juniper Beach and puppy time

You know how sometimes things work out way better than you imagined they could? Well, three nights in Juniper Beach was pretty much like that for us. We'd booked ourselves in as Martin and Inge said it was nice, just beware of the trains passing by. It had power and water so that was good too. Location - beach might be a bit misleading as it is by a river not the sea but hey, on the maps it looked good. It was also close enough to places called Cache Creek and Ashcroft that had food stores too. 

So, we duly arrived mid afternoon after another lovely drive.  After Mr Google telling us that highway #1 was closed, we were quite blasé about the reported diversion on this route. Only Mr Google was right this time. The detour involved driving around the south of Mara Lake:

which proved to be a real bonus. Pretty stopping spots to make tea and admire the views:

and to check out the strange to us lake houseboat things that look ugly and seem pointless as they are on a very restricted area of water and have very few real landing places:

As you can see, some private owners bring their own AstroTurf with them, the rental folks make do with just a gangplank:.

The setting was idyllic though and it looked like a pretty sedentary lifestyle with minimal fuel consumption for the outboard motors hanging on the stern of the things as there is not far to travel. Not a style of boating that we "get" or understand but clearly it works for some folks.

As we approached Juniper Beach the scenery changed once more. The country is full of surprises. This is the view back up the hill from the site:

and this is looking back at the river from up on high as it snakes through the valley:

The artistic composition of this image appealed to the captain - a reflection of the landscape and the crew in the almost clean paintwork of the tow truck:

No idea why it appeals really. Kind of a petrolhead thing probably.

Arriving in the camp we found it way busier then many had been and with way less separation between the pitches. Naturally this was the one where the captain made a mess of reversing the Airstream into our spot (poor instructions to the crew on arrival, all his fault) but a kindly neighbour directed things to get us into the right place. Typically nobody witnessed the previous night at Blanket Creek when it all went rather well. So much like berthing a boat it is untrue.

We arrived just as it was all kicking off there. The normally peaceful location had witnessed an assault by one "interesting" camper on an elderly guy who had a heart condition. The aggressive person was in a scruffy old converted ambulance that looked and smelled pretty disgusting. The police arrived and after some persuasion took the man away to spend a night in the cells. Not quite the quiet gentle campsite that we had become so used to.

Things improved rapidly though. The kindly neighbours (we will call them Mike and Kathie, just as everyone else does) were very friendly and helpful with local information and advice. They also had the cutest puppy called Willow who was a joy:

Her antics and cuddles were just wonderful to watch and experience.

Ashcroft was visited to raid the local bakery and the crew managed to book a hairdresser appointment there too. The bakery had a good choice of bad things to enjoy - see some on their Facebook page weblink . They also hosted the two fattest paramedics we'd ever seen, who were busy getting their lunch to take-away. How they would manage to attend to anyone on the floor and then get vertical again was beyond us. We tried to stay healthy whilst in the area. Still all the folks were very friendly and the supermarket had all we needed. 

We returned to the campsite and walked around the river watching the salmon running upstream to spawn. Quite a sight indeed as there were loads of them. When we lived in Scotland we used to visit the fish ladder at Pitlochry in the vain hope of seeing a salmon or two head upriver. We never managed that and the fish counter installed there didn't record very high numbers. Here, the fish were a bit like cars on the M25 motorway. Sadly many never quite make it as this poor image shows:

This picture of the river running past our camping pitch also shows you how close the train track is:

and how long the freight trains are. We said "the train track" but this was one of two - the other ran on the other side of the site so we were a train sandwich. Not too noisy in the night though as here they didn't seem to need to blow the mournful horns that often - fewer wildlife on the tracks perhaps? We became very used to them very quickly.

We returned to Ashcroft for the crew to have her locks tidied up (hardly an issue for the less than hirsute captain of course)  and then went to the Desert Hills Ranch Taco Stand for lunch. Why such a random thing?  Well, Willow's owners recommended it and they were dead right again. Quite an amazing place with more sauces and dressing and accompaniments then we'd ever seen before on offer.

It is a bit of a local institution it seems and justifiably so:

Here is a small part of the "extras" help yourself area:

After suitably filling tacos / burritos we wandered out to the truck then realised they had ice cream. Had to be done so we headed back and ordered one that sounded interesting. Only as the guy was serving it did we realise that it was this alarming colour:

It tasted fine but probably had more E numbers in it than the average tube of blue Smarties. We didn't feel too "high" that evening though and we rounded off our time in Juniper beach beautifully, joining our most hospitable neighbours and the gorgeous puppy Willow for a farewell dram sitting around their outdoor fire. All in all not too shabby a time.

Lake Louise & Blanket Creek

After the "metropolis" of Banff, we headed to another pretty well known settlement, Lake Louise. On the way we stopped off several times to admire / gawp at views like this:

and this:

The camping site at Lake Louise was carefully noted as for "hard sided units only". Roughly translates as bear proof. There was an area for tents / soft sided that was surrounded by an electric fence. Mmmm.

Yet another peaceful location with well separated pitches. We were getting so used to the quality of the locations and the relative isolation they offered too. After setting up the trailer, we headed into the small town for a look see and some fuel for the truck. Although fuel prices were higher than in the Calgary area, they were still rather lower than in the UK. Rather is an understatement of course.

The best coffee shop in town was tiny and  disappointing, Carrot cake slices pre cut and wrapped in cling film, served just like that and you had to ask for a fork to eat it with. OK coffee, but no more than OK. Service was probably the least engaged we experienced in Canada. Clearly they didn't have to try hard with plenty of tourists around:

Disappointing but the local liquor store made up for it by stocking some nice wine that we needed to take back to accompany dinner al fresco.

We'd seen many CanaDream and Cruise Canada rental motorhomes (RVs) on our travels. Just how strange some of the rental folks were really struck us in Lake Louise. A rental RV arrived as we were going to bed, it was pitch dark outside. They "set-up" and then left before we got up in the morning. It seemed to be typical behaviour too. Kind of  an "I've only got a week and need to see everything in that time" approach. Not quite our idea of enjoying the beautiful country. There again, we were so fortunate to be borrowing, not renting our accommodation and transport.

For our full day there, we walked into town and visited the museum where we came face to face with a bear. One that had been stuffed but still looked impressive:

with quite a history too. Sorry for the poor quality of the image but the story of this "homing bear" is well worth reading:

The campsite continued the bear theme. Everywhere we stayed had reminders that no food or food preparation articles like BBQs, cooking tongs,  plates etc should be left outside so as to avoid attracting bears. Lake Louise camping had this reminder:

and underneath was a timely reminder of the strength of a bear and how sharp their claws are::

We decided that it was probably best not to mess with them and carried the bear spray around just in case, whilst walking along the river that borders the camping area:

Dinner was once more on the monster BBQ:

and no, we didn't eat it all between us. We didn't share it with any wildlife either - the Airstream has a nice big fridge that looked after the uneaten cooked food for us. The setting was perfect:

Dinner and wine too. 

We were thinking that we were in the very nicest trailer in the park after a walk around when this happened. A monster Airstream arrived (way longer than the biggest available in Europe) and set up shop. We espied that huge awning and were looking forward to see how the owners deployed it and fitted the struts in place. No amusement at all ensued - it was an all electric affair: 

Quite a piece of kit.

Our plan was to head to Blanket Creek the next day,  which was quite a long drive compared to some of our other trips - around 260 Km. We asked Google maps how long that would take and were a bit horrified to see that they said over 8.5 hours as Highway #1 was closed. 

Er? Luckily, it wasn't, there were roadworks and SALT (single alternate lane traffic) but it was far from shut. A bit bumpy and muddy but not shut. So, we managed the drive in way less time but were sad when after we'd backed the trailer into our spot, it started raining. Actually it started just as we were preparing to back in. The crew was outside directing operations and so she was very focussed on getting us into position nice and quickly. We were NOT used to rain at all as you can see from the earlier pictures. The rain was a pity as we didn't explore the area very much thanks to the downpour. It was a beautiful secluded spot too. Another time....