Expedition Canada

And Floods Tue June 29th The heat bubble is moving inland and though the morning walk was already 23c  at 0630 , temperatures were noticeably  cooler today on those occasions when we weren't in a store or air conditioned car. The Hyannis trail is a lovely mix of 'old growth' trees and not so old.  Many are covered with Spanish Moss, which gives the forest a slightly primordial feel, or at least what I imagine it to have been like. There were more early walkers out trying to avoid the "midday sun".   Today the Disco had been booked into Land Rover in Richmond, to have the auto stop-start fixed. It has not worked since we bought the vehicle, coupled with a persistent low-battery sign.  Three years old!  We were offered a Jaguar loan car, which we declined as we were off to Ikea to get some bits and pieces for the new rental.  The almost new Discovery Sport was quite fun, head-up-display on the windscreen, all glass instruments an...

It's Hot Mon Jun 28th It was a balmy 25c as I set out on this morning's walk at 0630hrs.  That's as cool as it was going to get today.  Later afternoon temperatures are expected to hit 40c.  Not quite the  record  BC reached yesterday, or may even break again today. The walk reprised one we did when we were first released from quarantine in April.  I say we, today I was on my own.  Wimbledon has started so I shall not see Fred in the mornings for another two weeks.  If we were not 8hrs behind it would have been a larger chunk of the day! Today's forest art was on the Hyannis Trail.  There is someone around with an imaginative eye and a pocket full of pebbles.  I wonder if I will come across any others this week? The individual trails in North Van run for many kilometres but connecting trails and and crisscrossing of the main trails create a network whic h makes it possible to walk (run or ride) your distance of choice.  (See image)....

It's Warm Sun Jun 27th It is not often that you start a dog walk at 0630 and it's 21c.  Today was the exception.  It was going to be a two shower day - at least! There were few people "out and about" and we (Jack and I) were back on the Hyannis trail in North Vancouver, a route well trodden on our morning walks  during out last stint in N Van.  Jack seemed to know where he was going.   The tall pines helped make for a cooler walk and as we dropped down to Seymour Creek the temperature dropped a further few degrees. A round trip of 4.2k and 120m climb I was 'glowing' on my return.  By the time we got back the parking around the trailhead was full.   A new addition to the walk was some carefully placed rocks in a moss laden tree stump with ferns atop.  It looked like something from the 'Monster Munch' or 'Don't Forget the Honey Mummy 'advert, I can't remember which or what the last one was for!  Very clever. Our lovely host Shari drop...

It's Hot! Fri Jun 25th and  Sat Jun 26th The predicted heatwave has arrived and Friday's late twenties has become Saturday's early thirties.  Most of Friday was spent around the cabin packing, cleaning, trips down to the lake to cool off swimming and generally lazing around. Occasionally there were a couple of other people around, it was getting quite crowded! I discovered a new walk Thursday morning, a trail that runs along the north side of the lake.  Slightly disappointing that we'd not found it before as it would have been a good one to explore. The tree on the right at the beginning of the trail seems to have been popular with the resident woodpeckers.  The volume of chippings at the base of the trunk looked as though they'd taken a chain-saw to it.    The full trail will have to wait until we return to the cabin, which we know we will do at some point.   We have come to appreciate the remoteness and sparse population of this end of the Sunsh...

Heat Wave Looms Thu Jun 24th Pacific Banana Slug It appears that as we prepare to head back to the city,  a heat-wave warning has been issued for the Pacific North-West through to next Tuesday.  Temperatures are forecast to reach between 29c - 37c according to this morning's news, depending on your location in BC.  Saturday, the day of our drive and ferry back to North Van and Sunday, being the hottest.  There will be no cooling Mixal Lake to dip into though there are creeks Jack can swim in North Van. We rather hope the suite we go back to, which was cool in April being in the  North facing  lower-back part of the property will be as cool this visit! On our walks around the local trails, we have been struck by the number of slugs.  Small black ones to the much larger Pacific Banana slugs.  The picture on the right was one of the biggest, as measured alongside my size 11 walking shoe.   There are no hedgehogs in Canada, though there are ...

Two days Left Wed Jun 23rd It seems hard to believe that five weeks in Garden Bay come to an end on Saturday when we return to North Vancouver for a week. It has been an amazing few weeks and  a great base to explore the northern end of the Sunshine Coast.  The house with its large 'back yard' including a lake at the bottom and Mixal Lake only 100m away.  Nick, who has come up twice, while we have been here thinks we will miss it with Mixal on the doorstep and very limited public access to it, making it almost our own private lake. It has been extremely quiet.  We asked one of our neighbours what it's like in winter, when weekenders aren't around.  'Lovely' was her reply, though we feel it can probably be quite isolated. Fred did the morning walk with Jack and I had a virtual gym session, which I've kept while in Canada, followed by a swim in MIxal to cool down.   Fred watching Wimbledon Qualifying while cleaning the oven Today some of the cleaning job...

Lakes, Oceans and Orca  Tue Jun 22nd An early start today as we wanted to get the 0825 ferry from Earl's Cove across to Saltery Bay to spend a day exploring Powell River.  It is at the very northern end of the Sunshine Coast where the Highway 101 runs out, about 30k north of the town.  Outbound the ferry, was less than a quarter full so we had space to roam and take in the changing scenery on the fifty minute journey weaving across between the different islands. The ferry is one of the smaller ones in the BC Ferries fleet and has an open car deck, spanned by the passenger desk (coffee shop etc) and the single bridge that can steer the boat in both directions. Our first stop was at Palm Beach in Lund's Bay, just to give Jack a chance to exercise. Beautifully quiet apart from some toddlers being supervised in a swing park, nobody on the beach. We had a quick shop-stop in Powell River, to check out some furniture for the new house that we had not seen, but Fred knew they had...

Summer Solstice Mon Jun 21st Turkey Vulture - Stunning but not pretty! According to the Government of Canada Twitter account for the June 21st,  " I t'll officially be Summer in the Northern Hemisphere!  The #SummerSolstice means early sunrises, late sunsets, warm weather, and a whole lot of outdoor activities. "  I thought the whole point of a solstice, was that the days started getting shorter and the nights longer in June, or the other way around in December.    So as of today the days start getting shorter than the nights.  That said, as we are not yet Resident in Canada, I am not about to start being pedantic about the wording of their Twitter account. Yesterday and today had temperatures about 10c above normal.  An early morning dog walk was followed by a dip in Mixal. There was sighting of the rare Grey Dipper again!   It was amazingly warm.  The dockside thermometer was registering a water temp of 22c.  Five m...

Energetic Start! Sun Jun 20th  Father and Son - special Father and son off for Mixal Lake 'Father's Day Event'. Wake me by 0800, so we can be off for 0830 Nick instructed.  We were ready for the off, soon after 0830.  Nick planned to swim the length of Mixal Lake at 2.2k return (he does that sort of stuff) and I was going to SUP (Stand Up Paddle-board) it, kneeling down.  I am new to standing on a paddle board so wasn't going to risk the whole journey vertically!  I did do the last 100m standing up.   This was already after an early morning  dog walk. So off we set.  Nick does a lot of open-water swimming off Kitsilano Beach, so came equipped with his 3mm thin summer wetsuit, ear-plugs, swimming hat etc. etc. It was a stunning morning.  The lake was reflecting the trees and mountains around and there were so few others around.  The only people I was aware of, were a couple who appeared to have camped on the smaller island on the lak...

And Peaks Sat Jun 19th Capt Jack It was something of a motorized day on the water in the morning and up the mountains in the afternoon. John Henry's does boat hire and the archipelago of islands and inlets around the Pender Harbour and Garden Bay areas of the Coast would offer a different perspective to looking at it from atop a mountain. Safety demo complete, gear loaded on board, Jack wrapped around my knees, we headed out of the harbour. Nick took in the view from the foredeck and once Jack was peeled away from me he rather got the hang of watching the birds, seals and general flotsam and jetsam. Hugging the coastline of the bays and avoiding the flotilla of racing boats heading out to the Georgia Strait, we followed the coastline around Pender Harbour. The black line shows the route. It is a fantastic way to get a better view of the area, but not always easy to locate the familiar areas we know so well on land, from the water. Jack was clearly taken by the seal but resiste...