Touring the Cowichan Valley - Part 1

Crofton Seawalk at Sunrise

For the past week, my friend Ann has been visiting me from the mainland. She last visited in June, when she and her husband Ken helped me move to the island and set up my new home. Needless to say, sightseeing was low on our list of priorities at that time.

So this time, I showed Ann the sights. We spent a day in Victoria where the cherry trees were in full bloom, lining the streets and providing beautiful backdrops for the wonderful range of architecture and old homes one finds in our provincial capital city. We checked out Cowichan Bay and Genoa Bay and Maple Bay, Cobble Hill and Shawnigan Lake and Salt Spring Island. And, of course, we walked the Crofton Seawalk and we took the dogs to Osborne Bay Park. We watched ducks and gulls and cormorants, starfish and crab and little backyard birds. We shopped 'til we dropped (mostly thrift stores, to which we are both addicted), we tasted local fare 'til we dared not step on the scale, and I took photos 'til both batteries were dead. The weather was amazing, the critters were healthy and well behaved, and we had a great time.

However, with over 300 photos to sort through (and that is AFTER my initial edit to delete the obvious 'duds'), coming up with a comprehensive entry for my blog is a challenge. And so I shall present the pictures a few at a time over the next three or four blog posts.

Here, not from Cowichan Valley but from Salt Spring Island just across the bay from Crofton, are some photos from beautiful Ruckle Park, where old growth meets ocean and beauty is found at every turn in the trail: