We had a rather lazy start to the morning with coffee and a little bit of breakfast in the house we stayed in last night. While it had a superb view and gave us a gorgeous sunset, the house itself was rather odd. The master bedroom had the hardest mattress we’ve ever slept on. We might as well have been on the floor! We did a little bit of planning foe the return trip. We are not repeating the same route that we took out.
We are at a little bit of a loss as we restructured the trip to have 2 extra days on the island but had those 2 days taken away from us.
We poked around the Old City Quarter of Nanaimo, stopped for a coffee where we picked up a couple of Nanaimo bars for dessert for tonight and take out soup for lunch elsewhere. Not a lot else that we wanted to see.
Heading down Hwy 1, the major Hwy between Nanaimo and Victoria, we stopped in Chemainus, a former logging port. With the decrease in demand and automation of the logging facility here, the town has repositioned itself as a tourist destination. By painting historical murals on many of its buildings and hosting festivals, it has been successful with its turnaround.
We ate the delicious soup we had purchased earlier in Nanaimo and then set off again. We didn’t really have an agenda today and not far to go either. We heard that Duncan was called the city of Totem Poles so we stopped in to see them. They were scattered all over. It’s a busy place and not particularly attractive so we didn’t stop to park and walk. I took the following picture out of the window.
Hwy 1 to Victoria from Nanaimo is more or less one long shopping strip, same as anywhere else, no controlled access with stop lights every km or so. Very disappointing actually.
Trying to find something quieter and more scenic, we stopped in Mill Bay that was supposed to have a nice place in the marina to have a cold drink. It was closed of course. However, the item of interest in the marina was this massive single masted yacht which I Googled to find more details and its owner.
Our campsite is just a few miles from Victoria and also our previously reserved campsite for tomorrow night. We are camped beside some of the largest cedars and redwoods I’ve seen yet. Hard to believe there is a huge shopping area just at the gate to this park.
It has really cooled off again. It did try to rain earlier ( and it’s badly needed here) but no go.
So, the dilemma now is, what do tomorrow. We had only planned to spend half a day in Victoria before heading back to the mainland. Not sure we want to fill the time exploring a rather large city. Problem for tomorrow to solve I guess.
Maybe the Nanaimo bars will help.
Louise and Brian McLeod Travel Blog 
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