Walk # 222 May 18th 2016 Walking the Westsong Walkway Loop
The weather changed for the walking group, but even though it was cool and breezy the walk was dry and quite nice anyway. John's friend Ray came along for the first time and lead the group in a few Tai Chi moves down on the walkway. It was interesting. A good way to get the body on tune by stretching and breathing in a pattern of movements. You can see from the photos that we walked along Esquimalt Road to Dunsmuir Road and then down to Garrett Place where at the end of the road we found the pathway that leads behind the condos to the huge metal stairway that goes down to the Westsong Walkway. The view from the top of the stairway is spectacular.
Here are Phil's Photos
Here are Terry's Photos
Here are Phil's Photos
Here are Terry's Photos
Walk # 223 May 25th 2016 Around Durance Lake near Willis Point
Our small group met at the parking lot of the CRD Durrance lake Park on a cloudy but mild day. It has been almost four years since we walked around this pretty little lake. The first part of the trail is the old road that used to go to Willis point, now it is just the trail along the north side of the lake. A new fishing float has been installed near the parking area. At the far end of the lake we crossed the dam and started on to the narrow trail that goes up and down over roots and stones as it follows the shoreline. There are a few spots that are muddy in the wetter seasons. A by-pass was found to get around a low area. We took our time to enjoy the scenery and this walk took one hour. By the end of the walk the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. At the entrance to the park there is a handy place to launch a canoe or kayak if you have one.
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Dave's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Dave's photos
Walk # 224 June 1st 2016 A ramble around Beacon Hill Park
Thirteen of the CAMRAmblers came out today for a nice leisurely walk around the trails and roads in Beacon Hill Park. We took our time to enjoy the sights and sounds of the park. Not too busy at this time of the year, although the weather was dull but comfortable. We walked as we wished, around the park and chatted among ourselves, an otherwise nice day out. We had great service at the Beagle Pub from our server "Susan", and i can say that the food was top notch as usual. The beers on tap were quite a good selection too.
Here's Phil's photos
Here's Terry Photos
Here's Phil's photos
Here's Terry Photos
Walk # 225 June 8th 2016 The Ed Nixon Trail at Langford lake
The day started off cloudy and almost ten degrees cooler than the previous days, even a few showers were experienced on the way out to Langford. We parked by the bowling alley where there is lots of free parking. As usual, the sky cleared a bit when we started off to walk the Ed Nixon Trail around the side of Langford Lake. The trail starts off from across the road from the Rugby field at the end of the Langford Parkway and we crossed the street and the railway tracks to where the little playground and beach are at the end of the lake. The boardwalk is the start of the trail and it continues for 2.25 kilometers until it reaches it's end at Goldstream Avenue. Near this point the group split into those who wanted to walk all the way around the lake, and those who would walk back the way we had come. The time to do either is almost exactly the same. The total walking distance is about 4.5 kilometers. It started to sprinkle a tiny bit just as we were finishing the walk. Nobody got wet though, it just wasn't that much of a shower. A short ten minute drive to the new Axe & Barrel brewpub for lunch.
Here's Terry's photos
Here's Phil's photos
Here's Terry's photos
Here's Phil's photos
Walk # 226 June 15th 2016 Another nice visit to Matteville
The rain looked like it was here to stay at 6:30am, but lucky for us the skies cleared by 11am and it turned into quite a nice day after all. A large group of 17 toured the Vintage Village created by Larry & Coleen Matte on their acreage. Larry's collection of vintage farm and home items always is interesting to look at. His toy collection is beyond compare too. It started to sprinkle a tiny bit around noon, and about half the group headed off to the nearest pub while the rest of us headed to the Saloon to eat our picnic lunches. Of course the rain showers stopped but we had fun sitting in the tiny Saloon anyway. Many thanks to the Matte's for hosting us again. You can tell by the smiles that we had fun.
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's Photos
Here are Claudia's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's Photos
Here are Claudia's photos
Walk # 227 June 22nd 2016 Royal Roads revisited - new trails to explore
This was the first walk of summer, which only started a few days ago, officially. In 17 degree temperatures it was just right for this energetic walk through the tall trees of the Royal Roads property. The first part was almost all up hill; and that was a bit of a grind for some of us. The rest of the walk was mostly level or down hill. Lots of tall old growth trees and beautiful green undergrowth. Very scenic, it took us nearly ninety minutes to walk the route shown in the blue line on the map in Terry's photos. A fairly short drive brought us back to the 4 Mile Brew Pub for a nice lunch afterwards.
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Walk # 228 June 29th 2016 Whitty's Lagoon trail to the beach
This walk started at the main parking area for the Whitty's Lagoon Beach Trail. Just a few meters along the trail there is a split in the trails. The right trail goes down to the beach and this is the way the walking group went this time. After a time down on the beach the group headed back up the trail and decided to walk around the top of the waterfall to the lookout platform to see the falls from that vantage. Bucky's Pub at Glen lake was the destination for lunch.
Here are John's photos
Here are Dave's photos
Here are John's photos
Here are Dave's photos
Walk # 229 July 6th 2016 From Houlihan Park to Glencoe Cove loop
Starting at the Scott and Adlerspar residences on Houlihan Ct. we walked through the laneway to Houlihan Park where Wenche told us a bit about the history of this park. Then Kathy took the lead and directed us across Ferndale Rd. and into the lane that leads down to Glencoe Cove. The stairs down to the beach were longer than I remembered, but we helped each other down and across the logs and spent a little while enjoying the beach before we went up the stairs again and along the trails in that park to explore a couple more of the ocean view areas. Then we walked up Gordon point Drive to the path that leads to Leyns Rd. A trail leads into the wooded area that goes up to Ferndale again and we followed Ferndale all the way back to Grandview and into the laneway that leads back to Houlihan Ct. A large group of us went to the Smuggler's Cove Pub for lunch. It was a nice outing.
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Claudia's photos from lunch
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Terry's photos
Here are Claudia's photos from lunch
Walk # 230 July 13th 2016 Re-Discovering Rockland
The CAMRAmblers started out on Belmont Avenue near the park of the same name. After carefully crossing Pandora and Fort street, they continued along Belmont and all the short streets that lead off of it. Lots of interesting old houses in this area. Beautiful gardens too. Continuing on to Rockland they walked down to Joan Crescent and then headed back toward Fort Street again, passing Craigdaroch Castle on the way. There are so many fine old homes and gardens along this walk, and lots of hidden charms to find along the way too.
Here are Dave's photos
Here are Phil's photos
Here are Dave's photos
Here are Phil's photos