On Friday I got into the city early enough to visit the central library, an architectural beauty right downtown. I wandered around for a while, collected some books on the French Revolution to look at. Yep, look at, cause it turns out I forgot (imagine head banging against wall) to bring my Sechelt library card, which I can register with the VPL and thus have borrowing privileges. Oh well, next week.
After that I trundled along Robson to meet up with my mum and her friend at their hotel. From there we went for lunch at O'Doul's, then went to see Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, with its gorgeous stained glass windows. We spent quite a while in there, though the sun didn't cooperate - it remained behind the clouds, so we didn't see the windows in their full glory. Still, it was very interesting and a lovely interlude.
Having heard so much about the library from me, my mum and her friend decided we should walk down there together - so we continued on, despite the drizzle and by the time we were seated in the library concourse with coffee, the sun had come out. Rested and revived by our refreshment we went up into the library itself to see the view from the 6th floor windows before returning to Robson Street and joining the crowds there as we wended our way to our dinner destination.
My friend was able to join us before 7:00 and we had a nice dinner, though my mum's food wasn't great so she shared my pizza. By 9pm, Claire and I were at the bus stop waiting to go back to her neighbourhood, which included a stop at a local cafe, The Wired Monk, for dessert and tea, figuring anything stronger (also available there) might put a crimp in our hiking the next day.
By 9 am on Saturday, we were at Horseshoe Bay, waiting for the others to join us. Wally the dog rested up some more (he's a big dog - half Irish wolfhound/half Bouvier) while we sat in a shady area just outside the ticket booth. After the others joined us we boarded the ferry - the ride over to Bowen is only 20 mins - here's what the view looks like coming into Snug Cove:
Our walk took us through varied terrain - from deep woods to more open areas:
The forest there is very old, as evidenced by this hollowed out tree trunk:
It's also kinda boggy in spots, necessitating the building of boardwalks along the trail:
Claire took a photo of me at the north end of the lake - the bog is behind me and beyond it you can see the open part of Killarney Lake:
3/4 of the way around we stopped to have some water and a snack. In the distance you can see the bog with dead trees where I'd posed for me photo earlier:
And here's the lake from the south end - isn't it gorgeous?:
Along the trail back to Snug Cove, we stopped the lookout over Deep Bay - which in turn gives you a view over to Lion's Bay and the Sea to Sky Highway:
Back in Snug Cove, we had lunch at the pub and looked out over the marina:
Our bellies now full (we were all a tad grumbly by the time the food hit the table), we wandered back towards the dock to wait for the ferry:
and by 4:45 we were back in Horseshoe Bay, where our companions set off for home. Claire tarried with me a while as I had to wait for the 6:20 ferry back to Langdale. We sat down in the park in Horseshoe Bay, and chatted - enjoying the shade and watching all the people.
The time soon came for me to buy my ticket and board the ferry, so there we parted. I'm hoping to go hiking with them all again soon (apparently I passed muster *g*). The ferry ride was smooth and even with heavy traffic, I was home by 8 o'clock, where dinner was waiting for me followed by apple pie. Yum.
Today I'm a tad sore ( I slipped on some rocks, bruising myself and wrenching my shoulder), but happy to be home again. The kitties are stretched out on the floor beside me, so I guess I'll put off vacuuming till tomorrow! I guess I should clean up my stuff - I unpacked, but didn't actually put anything away. Hope you enjoy the pics :-)
Teresa
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