Expedition Canada

BC State of Emergency  Fred's palm-size basil leaves! Wed Jul 21st Living on the Sunshine Coast one can feel a little distant from the rest of BC and Canada as a whole.  British Columbia has declared a 'State of Emergency' less than one month after ending its Covid State of Emergency.    " More than 3,000 square kilometres of land have been burned by 1,145 wildfires in B.C. this season so far, which is three times the 10-year average for this time of year, according to B.C. Wildfire Service director of operations Cliff Chapman." To put that in to context, Wiltshire, our home county in the UK is 3,48 5 km2.  An area close to the total size of Wiltshire, is or has been on fire. On the Sunshine Coast there are no active fires.  Across BC there are 277, up 18 in the last two days.  BC needs rain, none is forecast.   “Public safety is always our first priority, and as wildfire activity is expected to increase, this is a progressive step in our wil...

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...

The Next Adventure A 3D Puzzle Sun May 2nd.  The car started ok today, no warning symbols, so packing commenced.  This was something of a challenge and just as well we left the dog crate and one piece of luggage with Nick and two pieces at our first rental for later collection.  Jack had to share the back seat with one large suitcase! Car packed, we headed off to Horseshoe Bay, the ferry terminal to the west of Vancouver.  Yet again, the auto stop/start was not working!   All our papers were to hand in case our reason to travel was challenged.  ‘No recreational travel’ was on all the matrix signs driving to the terminal.   Our dual nationality Canadian/British check-in lady, whose daughter plays for Aston Villa could not have been more helpful.  We had a nice chat with her, 'deck three with the dog, or you can stay in the car' she advised.  The ferry is only 29% full, such is the impact of Covid.  Not sure what Jack was going to mak...

Already Sat May 1st  Josie, the girl upstairs! It’s hard to believe we have been here for a month.  The time has just flown by and tomorrow we set off for the Sunshine Coast, we hope!   The last few days driving around Vancouver the auto start/stop hasn’t been working on the three year old car (five days since it was acquired).  Saturday morning a warning message came on ‘battery low start engine’, when returning to the car.   Several calls with the two main Land Rover dealers and their best solution was to book the car in next week as they needed 4 hours to go through the diagnostics.  Not possible, we’re moving to the Sunshine Coast tomorrow, Sunday. The service advisor suggested that as the car had been standing on the lot for several weeks the battery needed to be recharged to 100%, something an alternator apparently won’t do.  Begs the question why it wasn’t checked before they sold the vehicle. So a quick visit to Canadian Tire for a battery char...

Vancouver Traffic Mystery Creek Mon Apr 26th Which can flow quite smoothly will come to a grinding halt if there is an incident on either of the two bridges that separate North Vancouver from Vancouver.  More later. The morning excursion was a repeat of the day before, only this time we were confident we knew where we were going.    Hyannis, Power Line, Fishermans and Baden Powell trails, with plenty of water for Jack to explore on route. Fred tried out her new hiking poles, which made going down hill much easier. Jack made short work of the hills and slopes with his four-paw drive.  He really has become quite adept at going places I would not dream of climbing up or down. Confirmation during morning that a SWIFT transfer of funds from the UK had been completed and it was agreed I could collect the car in the afternoon, which  was booked for 15.30. Poles and Pylons I set off at 1400 to drop the hire  car  back in Burnaby, which is in east Vancouve...