June 2020

Monday Jun 1 Deep Bay, BC

After 7½ months, it is finally time to leave our little cottage in Royston. The sun is shining, the temperature is warming, it's time to go.

Just a bit of background before I continue. Renting the cottage for the winter was a good move; it allowed me time to re-furbish Ali – a total repaint of the inside – walls, ceiling, cabinets, etc. And even some new stone tile in the kitchen and bathroom – the old "plastic" tile had lost its lustre!

Today we're heading south along the coast towards Deep Bay. It's only a 30-minute drive. Ten minutes down the road, in Union Bay, we pulled into the boat launch parking area and enjoyed our morning coffee.

After coffee and another short drive, we arrived at Deep Bay RV Park. I walked the lower area of the park with Sarah, the owner's daughter. She explained how the park is about 75 years old, started as a fishing camp and over the years, was grand-fathered into a mostly permanent resident park, at least for the 6 month summer season.

The site she suggested on the upper level was a little tight to get into but offered a much nicer view than from the lower area.

That's Denman Island in the distance with the lighthouse on its own island just to the south.

We'd love to return in a few months and pick some blackberries from the bushes along the edge of our site.

Wednesday Jun 3

We drove out to Spider Lake for a walk. We've been here before, many years ago with our kayaks. It's such a pretty lake. Reminds me a bit of when I was a kid in Ontario– going to the lake for two weeks summer vacation. Boy, wasn't that a long time ago!

Friday Jun 5

This morning we drove to Canadian Tire in Courtenay. Some time ago, when Alfie had an oil change, the tech mentioned that both exhaust manifolds were cracked. Today was the day to have them replaced—Alfie has been experiencing a misfire. When new spark plugs, etc. didn't resolve the problem, the cracked manifolds were the next most likely culprit.

Jen came with me so after we dropped Alfie off, we headed out for a walk. It's supposed to rain this afternoon. Hopefully our morning stroll will be dry.

Before we really even got going, we visited the Bayside Café. Good

strong wifi, coffees, and a muffin and we were all set to continue

our walk.

We left the Bayside and headed towards the Courtenay Air Park.

Walking around the park which circles the single, north-south run-

way, I couldn't help wondering what this poor Lake amphibian did

to deserve such neglect.

At the north end of the airpark, where we usually stop for coffee then return to Alfie by continuing around the loop, we headed north along the trail toward downtown. We haven't walked this trail before.

Here's something we didn't know.

Continuing our walk of discovery we happened upon this small

totem pole on the side of the trail.

The entire walkway is paved which was great for Jen.

Along the way we walked past what used to be known as

The Old House restaurant, now called Locals.

Here's a bit of history as to how The Old House restaurant came to be.

We continued our walk into downtown, around past the library, and to Cardero's Café on 5th.

After a bite of lunch we started back along the river walkway. The rain has held off; lets hope that continues.

At the north end of the air park, we read this information board. The old mill site, across the river, will be restored.

That is good news as the site right now is rather unsightly.

Heading back to get Alfie, on the way past the air park, we saw a float plane land on the runway–retractable landing gear in the floats!

We arrived back at Canadian Tire, loaded Jen's wheelchair into Alfie,

paid the bill and headed back to camp in Deep Bay. The heavens

opened and it rained heavily for a few miles. Boy, were we lucky

this morning!

You may not be interested but here are a couple of pictures of

the old exhaust manifolds.

We spent a lot of time just enjoying the view, watching the eagles soaring above, and taking leisurely walks down to the government wharf. Not terribly exciting I know.

Sunday Jun 7

This morning we took a drive south along the coast to Qualicum Bay. First stop was for an ice cream. Moose Tracks for Jen and Chocolate/Peanut Butter for me. YUM! (Sorry I neglected to take a picture.)

We found a walk we did not know about as well as a piece of art.