I have spent the weekend with Martin and Lynne taking too much time to eat, drink and chat to put effort into my photos so it is time to catch up. Last Friday I spent the morning on the Sunshine Coast with a short hike in Francis Point Provincial Park and a run back down the coast to Gibsons for the ferry back to Vancouver. On Saturday Martin took me to Minnekhada Regional Park where we strolled around a little lake, complete with beaver’s lodge, and over a little more challenging than expected slopes. A good workout and ideal for building an appetite for a super Italian meal a short walk from their place. A great day. On Sunday Martin took me down to Rocky Point in Port Moody for a walk around the end of the harbour dropping into a brewpub along the way before we feasted on Salmon to a new recipe. (I will note elaborate, but it was very tasty all the same.) Over the weekend it was lovely to catch up with their boys Gareth and Conor and their partners Shawna and Jelena. The last time we were together was for Thanksgiving in 2019. Shawna was a key to today’s activity having recommended Sooke Potholes Regional Park a few kms outside Victoria as an interesting place for a walk. This came into play when I ended up arriving at Tsawassen just before 10 for my 11am ferry only to be shepherded aboard the one almost finished loading for the 10am departure. Now from a possibility Sooke became a plan. There was a little spanner in the works. Google maps kept losing Internet connection and essentially froze. Fortunately I noticed it before it got me completely lost when I saw what must be the turning to Sooke even though Google thought it was not for 7.4km. The Ford has its own GPS navigation but very little in the way of points of interest so can be tricky to program but it got me close enough. I am hoping this is a temporary glitch with Google as I have planned routes ready to install for the coming days. Here are a few pictures from these past few days and for ease I have captioned them individually or in groups. The headline picture is at Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast. You will see a heron at the water’s edge and a close up below.

Francis Point provided a lovely coastal walk with plenty of colour like this tree with a rainbow trunk. There was also wildlife including a sealion but I only pictured it’s back as it porpoised gently along but I did capture a wren and and American robin.

Before getting the ferry I enjoyed a gentle stroll by the harbour in the lovely little town of Gibsons where I had spent the night before. Here is a picture from the scenic ferry ride from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay.

At Minnekhada there was both implied and actual widlife with a beaver lodge and an actual snake. A real treat.

Across the middle of the park it was pretty steep and with very large cliffs above us. At one point it was not obvious where the trail went so Martin acted as scout. He was right.

Martin and Lynn have resident hummingbirds and one decided to come for a little nectar while we were on the deck. Nice.

I managed to find a friendy bear at Rocky Point.

This morning, while traversing the Active Passge we crossed paths with another ferry. A perfect time for a selfie apparently. The weather was chilly and threatening as you can see below. Good for photos.

At Sooke the river of the same name has cut a deep gorge and the water has excavated pools of absolutely clear water, hence the potholes in the park name. There was an abundanceof colour with wildlfowers and the trees and a few little birds.