Sechelt & Roberts Creek

 Round Trip 

Sat May 8th



After the excitement of the morning aerial display from the birds of prey swooping to help the seagulls with the shoal of fish that were passing by, it was off for more property exploring.  

An early morning stroll along the beach and we came across one of the many Great Blue Heron.  A really graceful bird in the air.

For those that did not see the blog for Friday, some 15 or so Bald and Golden Eagles (mostly Bald) were attracted by a huge flock of seagulls attacking a shoal of fish about 1km out to sea.  They were too far away and spaced out to get a good shot, but the top pic shows four of the Bald Eagles and a Golden Eagle.  Once they had fish in claw, they flew back behind us for breakfast before repeating the journey.  It must have gone on for the best part of an hour.  An amazing spectacle.

The first visit was to Roberts Creek a small community about 10k down the road towards Sechelt.   A really quiet but attractive residential area, but with well spaced out properties set in a pine forested area.  The centre of the village has a small collection of stores around a market place.  More roads added to the list of possibles.  We checked out a property that we were interested in but we were in North Van at the time and could not get across to see it and it was 'under offer' within 4 days.

On the way into Sechelt we stopped by a property we first liked the look of about 6 months ago.  A modern glass waterfront property on First Nation land, with 17 years to run on a lease.  We did not make an offer as the lease was too short, though we see it has now sold after about 6 months on the market.

Oils and Vinegars Tasting Salon and Retail
the inside looks better than the outside!

We were pleasantly surprised by Sechelt, which we have only driven through before.  The Saturday morning farmers market had a good selection of artisan stalls, though unlike French markets, no fruit & veg, fish or meat stalls.

The main 'high street' - Cowrie Street had a good selection of shops including Tasters, an Oils and Vinegars tasting salon and retail [shop], there was also a delicatessen, wet fish shop and good selection of gift and other stores, cafes and restaurants.  They also had an excellent wine merchant, though more expensive than BC Liquor.  Interesting that the competition is more expensive than the state supplier.

We bought some lunch and had it on the beach area looking across to Van Island.  We would have tried one of the restaurants with a patio area, but BC specifically bans dogs where 'food is prepared and served'. There seems to be some flexibility where the patio is not an enclosed part of the restaurant.  Certainly a lot less flexible than the UK.  

We then headed up behind Sechelt for a trail walk.  Unlike North Van the trails are really short, only 2k - 5k.  I wonder if this is because most people head to the beach rather than the hills for their leisure.  This is one of the downsides to this area.  Maybe it will be different when we get to the North end of the Sunshine Coast in Garden Bay for next month's rental.

One upside to the walk was catching sight of a Pileated Woodpecker.  At first we thought someone was chopping wood.  This is one of the larger woodpeckers and the tree sounded pretty hollow. Some images below.

After that it was back to Bonniebrook and a stroll along the beach.  The otter was back!



Pileated Woodpecker (M)










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