Fred Goes Shopping

Mike & Jack have a boys day

Tue Aug 31st

Gumboot Cafe - Roberts Creek

The shopping trip was actually to collect the 2018 Nissan Leaf and Fred decided to take the ferry as a walk-on and catch the express bus from the Horseshoe Bay terminal into downtown Vancouver.  Having dropped her off at the terminal in Langdale (she could have walked!), it was straight on the boat, straight on the bus for the $2 and 35 minute ride into town and then a ten minute walk to Nick's office.  Still without a local bank account, Nick had arranged a bank draft to enable us to buy the car.  

Meanwhile I took Jack back down to Cliff Gilker Park and we wandered around the creeks for an hour.  It is a delightful spot, though the water levels are really low.


But still deep enough for a decent paddle


General Store
We then headed off to Roberts Creek  village for coffee at The Gumboot Cafe. 

It has been a favourite haunt since we arrived on the Coast.  Roberts Creek is a 'parish' (not sure if they have a Canadian term) within the District of Sechelt and sits either side of the Sunshine Coast Highway.  Highway overstates it slightly as it's one lane in each direction aside from a few passing stretches of road. 

Library

It's mainly residential with houses spread out among the quiet lanes of the parish.  It has fire station (all are volunteers on the Coast), a hugely popular fish and chip shack that sits on a small wooded area with picnic tables outside and a few shops in the main part of the hamlet.

The architecture is typical rural Canada, timber framed and clad and they look as though they have been around for a hundred years or so.  The Gumboot cafe above is typical.  The general store and library are similar.

It does get visitors, but more importantly you feel it is the heart of the village, supported and used by locals.

Behind the Gumboot is a small selection of other shops and until the pandemic kicked off, a woodworking school, Inside Passage, that attracted people from all over the world.  It's now located on Keats Island.  I plan to check it out.

A short walk from the centre of the hamlet is the beach where Roberts Creek flows in to the sea.


It is an extremely pretty area.  Since arriving on the Coast, we've seen a number of Belted Kingfishers.  Noisy but shy birds.  As I walked back along the rock pier one settled on a post just 20 ft away.  Yesterday my camera and big lens had gone off for a service.  I often don't seem to have it with me when the best shots present themselves!

Fred returned from Vancouver mid afternoon with her shiny new wheels having met a friend for lunch and got the car up to 100kph on the highway!  Needless to say she loves it!




She's even read the manual!

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