Walk # 161 March 4th 2015 Tillicum, Gorge and Craigflower Loop walk
We are so lucky to have such great weather for our walks! It's hard to believe that it's still actually winter. This week we walked a 4.7 kilometer course around part of the Gorge Waterway starting near the Gorge Bridge at the rowing club and going clock-wise along Tillicum to the Kinsman Gorge park, through the park to Craigflower Road. We then walked along Craigflower to Admirals Road and across the new Craigflower Bridge to Gorge road and back along the linear park to our starting point. Lunch at the Gorge Point Pub finished the day. It was a nice walk, but we needed to keep up a good pace for the first half of the walk to be able to slow down for the second half of the walk to admire and enjoy the view of the waterway as we followed the path along beside the water to our cars. Duration of the walk approximately 90 minutes.
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Walk # 162 March 11th 2015 Lochside Trail clean-up walk from the Monkey Tree
Despite a forecast of an 80 % chance of rain for the south island the CAMRAmblers ventured out under grey skies to walk a section of the Lochside Trail starting from near the Monkey Tree Pub and going at least three quarters of the way to the Royal Oak Avenue end of this section of the trail. We carried plastic bags and wore rubber gloves so we could pick up litter and garbage along the trail as we went. When we met up with a Saanich work crew that was working along the trail we turned back and walked back to our cars. It never did rain on the walk today. We did pick up quite a bit of trash. A nice lunch was enjoyed at the Monkey Tree Pub.
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Walk #163 March 18TH 2015 Florence lake to Millstream creek loop
On a perfect day in March that was not yet officially spring; we walked from the west side of Florence lake on Savory road along the Strachan Trail to Millstream Road following a route that includes a couple of other local trails. This route includes local streets and trails and part of the Millstream Creek trail. We finally got to the Log House Pub where we had a very filling and reasonably priced lunch. A few of the group decided to skip the lunch and walked directly back to the starting point. The total walking time of the walk was about two hours; a bit longer than usual for this group.
Here are Phil's photos and videos
Here are Terry's photos and videos
Here are Dave's photos
Here are Phil's photos and videos
Here are Terry's photos and videos
Here are Dave's photos
Walk # 164 March 25th 2015 Outerbridge Park and area
This day was supposed to be really rainy; but our luck held for another week and we were able to have another walk in nearly completely dry conditions. Only a few drops of misty rain towards the end of the walk. Paul joined us for this walk, and we were so glad that he did having just lost his wife a few days ago. Our walking group is a really supportive group of people. We found that the parking area at Outerbridge Park has been expanded to hold at least five small cars now. The Horticulture Society of the Pacific has done a great job of restoring and managing the gardens in this little gem of a park. Even as early in the season as we were the flowers and ponds were quite beautiful to behold as you will see by the photos. We entered the park by the Royal Oak Avenue entrance and exited by the Blenkinsop Road path and decided to walk all the way down to Lohbrunner Road and walk across to the Lochside Trail and back to our cars. It proved to be a bit longer than any of us thought and our short walk turned into a 90 minute walk anyway.
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's videos and photos
Here are John's photos
Here are Claudia's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's videos and photos
Here are John's photos
Here are Claudia's photos
Walk # 165 April 1st 2015 Exploring Broadmede Trails
We managed to squeeze today's walk in between two rain showers. In fact the sun came out so bright and warm we had to start shedding jackets. It was nice walking through the quiet streets of Broadmede with very little traffic. The paths were easy to find and we enjoyed the pretty little lake in Lohbrunner Park. What a gem that tiny lake is! All the trails or paths were well maintained and there was no muddy sections. The total walk took just about 60 minutes. According to my pedometer the walk was 3.29 kilometers in length. It didn't seem that long. The Monkey Tree Pub was our lunch destination again. Molly, our server is so friendly.
Here are Phil's photos and videos
Here are Terry's photo
Here are Phil's photos and videos
Here are Terry's photo
Walk # 166 April 8th 2015 Whitty's Tower Point & Sea Bluffs Trail
We met at the Whitty's Tower Point Park first and walked counter clock-wise around the trail from the right side of the point. The views of the inlet and the off shore islands and rocks was very scenic. Well worth the visit. The weather couldn't have been better. We found the defensive ditch that the first nations peoples had dug to fortify the point for their village site. The tide was out and there was very little breeze. That part of the the days walk behind us we headed a little bit further out to the Sea Bluffs Trails off of Wootten Road. This is on private property and is set up like the public footpaths that are so common in Britain. This trail makes a long loop around the farm property. There are nice views of the sea from along the bluffs. Look for sheep and goats, and close all the gates behind you as you walk through this trail.
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Walk # 167 April 15th 2015 Fairfield and Ross Bay Cemetery walk
The group met at the Gonzales Bay park area and parked where the public washrooms and beach access are. There are no parking restrictions there. Phil was the leader for this walk and we headed off around Hollywood Crescent to Dallas Road between the Ross Bay Cemetery and the ocean. Crossing Dallas road we soon entered the historic Ross Bay Cemetery and started looking for a few historic grave sites. Terry showed us his family plot where his Great Grandfather and family are all buried. Phil led us up to where Emily Carr and her family plot is located. We walked to the far end of the cemetery and then headed back to the cars. We then drove the short distance to the Ross Bay Pub and had lunch.
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos