26 September 2016, Monday
Miraculously, the stars were shining last night as we went to bed. This morning – still no rain. We pack up the tent only slightly damp and drive to Ucluelet for breakfast. We have 286 km to drive to Victoria. I take the first shift, driving past Port Alberni and stopping at MacMillan Provincial Park, also known as Cathedral Grove. This land was donated to British Columbia by Mr. MacMillan to help preserve a stand of Douglas Firs ranging in age from 300-800 years old. The grove is beautiful. Across the road are some American redcedars (arbor vitae) that are up to 300 years old.
From here, O completes our drive to Victoria. We arrive at the James Bay Inn without running into any major traffic jams. Without further ado, we walk 1.8 km to Canoe Brew Pub and Restaurant where we enjoy an excellent ESB with our dinner.
After dinner we walk back to the Inn, stopping at MEC to browse, checking out the menu at Willie’s Bakery, stopping for dark chocolate ice cream topped with dark chocolate hazelnut crunch ganache, and pausing to listen to a piper play along the waterfront. Victoria is much more to our liking than Vancouver. From our inn almost everything we want to see is walkable, except for Butchart Gardens.
