And gets moved on

Tuesday Sep 24th

Sunrise over the Salish Sea - with a BC ferry in the distance

A Grizzly on the Coast is big news. We don't get many. The young bear in the link was wandering around the roads in upper Gibsons which backs onto Mount Elphinstone and the forests that go on for hundreds of miles.

We get a sighting maybe once a year and the Conservation Officers were soon on the scene setting up a trap and subsequently catching the said Grizzly before relocating it by boat. We know not where, for obvious reasons.

This was a good outcome. Bears are often shot if they become a nuisance, particularly Black Bears which apparently, are difficult to relocate. They cannot be placed into another bear's territory and will often return to where they were causing a nuisance.

Picking garden produce early as bears come in to their hyperphagia period (eating as much as possible before hibernation), especially fruit trees and other food sources, is encouraged to reduce 'attractants', garbage must be securely stashed. You can be prosecuted if you are seen to negligently attract bears.

The last of our summer visitors have gone. Firstly a house full of Ros's mates who were on the Coast for a mountain biking event and couldn't get accommodation elsewhere and then the daughter and boyfriend of a former work colleague of Fred's who had been in Whistler for a year and about to head back to the UK and onto Australia. Their departure saw the arrival of Fall, cooler mornings, more showers and some stunning sunrises and sunsets.

Rehearsals have begun for two of the choirs I belong to. Christmas concerts for both the Suncoast Phoenix Community Choir (SPCC) and separately A Capella Strait, whose Christmas repertoire will include the beautiful Videte Miraculum by Thomas Tallis. A subset of the SPCC is also doing Rutter's Requiem on Remembrance Day, two concerts on the afternoon of November 11th. I took a while to warm to the piece which has a mix of both rather sombre sections but also some delightfully crafted harmonies that Rutter is so good at.

If you are not in to things vehicular, you may want to skip to the pictures below. Planning is getting underway for our trans-Canada trip next Spring. RV's are being researched, both rentals and purchased, though something to tow it with has been the initial priority. The Discovery Sport was OK for most of what we wanted to do over the last few years, but had very limited towing capacity. After much research and a shortlist of two, we are now the proud owners of a Toyota Tundra. A truck! When in Canada ...... All I need now is a few more lumberjack shirts.

New wheels

Capable of hauling 11,122 lbs, just over 5 tons, it will give us some flexibility when driving up some of the more challenging 'hills' between us and the other side of Canada. I have though been reminded by a very good UK friend that I am capped at 10,000lbs unless I upgrade to a commercial licence. We love the truck already.

After driving Land Rover Discoveries for the last 30 or so years, a Series 1, a Series 2, a Series 3, 2 x Series 4 and the Discovery Sport here in Canada the Tundra is quite a change. They are made in the USA and the technology and build quality is amazing. It is big, but has a fairly economical 3.5L twin turbo engine. I would have gone for the hybrid, but like all Toyota Tundra's they are in short supply due to 'global supply issues'. It was this one or wait months.

On the RV/trailer front we have been talking to friends up in Squamish who have an RV. They were interested in driving one way, if we drove the other. Having had a chance to look it over when they were over on the Coast last weekend we've decided to do our own thing. At 19' it was a tad on the small size for a three month 'stay'. We also want to explore different routes out and back, so it makes sense to have some independence.

The Squamish friends were introduced to us before they came out to Canada, by a former BBC colleague. They had wanted to understand the hoops we went through to move to Canada under the Parent and Grandparent scheme we used. Their son lives in Squamish. This last weekend the BBC colleague and wife, who had been travelling in Canada came over for the weekend with mutual Squamish friends. It was good to catch up.

The locally written and filmed TV detective series 'Murder in a Small Town' (starring actor Donald Sutherland's son Rossif) starts on Canada's Global streaming service tonight. It was filmed mostly along the Coast, in Gibsons plus scenes at Chaster Park and on Bonniebrook beach at the bottom of our road.

There is no release date yet for the UK but distribution will be handled by ITV according to this website. So if you want to see where we are living keep an eye out for it's arrival in the UK. Tech wizards amongst you may be able to use Nordvpn to get into it if you are really keen. The author of the books behind the story, L R Wright lived in BC until her death in 2001.

Whilst on recent ferry crossings I've enjoyed some sightings of the local whales. A trip back from Horseshoe Bay back to the Coast was delayed by a whale swimming around in the ferry berth, delaying it's arrival and departure. Sitting in the car line-up I could see the ferry slowing down to dock then suddenly reversing back out and holding off the terminal. Still I suppose it's different to leaves on the line or the wrong type of snow which was the autumn and winter excuses of SW Trains.

More recently on our departure from Horseshoe Bay, we got a mile or so into the Howe Sound and the boat slowed down and turned around. In the distance a pod of Humpback Whales were spouting forth.

Ferry in reverse

It turns out the ferry had a propeller problem and the RoRo ferry could only go in one direction, it was nothing to do with the whales. We travelled backwards all the way to Langdale, where it turned around again to berth! It was weird sitting in the car looking backwards out of the ferry!