Galloping Goose! Are we in Canada Already?

Today we visited our new friends, Sidney & Victoria. They’re a lovely couple! All it took was a short ferry ride, and we were out of the USA and into British Columbia, Canada. OK, so Sidney is the port to which ferries from San Juan Island arrive, and it was short ride down the Galloping Goose Trail to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, our destination for tonight. It is called Victoria after Queen Victoria, and coincidently, it is Victoria Day tomorrow, when there will be a big parade through the streets, random partying and fireworks.

All went to plan and, although it was freezing when we disembarked the ferry around 11am this morning in Sidney, and we were forced to step to one side and pull on our full-length cold-weather gear, within 5 miles or so, we were stopping to take it off again, as the beautiful sunshine broke through the clouds and we breathed in the fresh Canadian air.

After 10 miles or so of the “Goose”, we turned off onto the “Seaside” trail, which took us all the way around the shores of Victoria, and through the neighbourhoods we had read about that we really wanted to visit: Oak Bay with its English style Tudor houses: check; Clover Point with the lovely view across the bay: check: Beacon Hill Park: check; James Bay: check. And it was only a short 27-mile hop in total from Sidney through all of these neighbourhoods to our hotel near the inner harbour. Bonus.

Quite by chance, we stopped for lunch at a little place called “Olive Olio’s”, which was fabulous and, from speaking to some of the other customers, we found that it was a hidden gem that the locals love and hope that the tourists don’t find: what can we say…we’ve obviously got the knack… Tonight, we ate at a great Thai restaurant (again). We’re digging Thai at the moment as a cheap and thoroughly tasty way to get our chicken/fish, vegetables and rice, with reasonably priced wine. Job done!

Now we’re chilling out in our hotel room with full bellies, looking forward to a lie-in tomorrow, a bit of sightseeing (perhaps), a large dollop of admin/accommodation booking/route planning (definitely), and a spot of firework watching, we hope. Canada…we likey!

Us x