-- From Lake Cowichan to Port McNeill
The road tracklog
from Lake Cowichan to Port McNeill
from 2011/05/09 to 2011/05/15
Hwy 18 from Lake Cowichan to Duncan follows Cowichan River but it is attended by trucks transporting logs at the authorized maximum speed, 100km. I was dubitative as for the possibility to stopping these machines. In Duncan I went shopping then I carried on my road to be stopped at the exit of the city by the highway police, all lighting lights and howling siren. I stopped and waited in the cabin, the policeman ordered to me to stop the engine and to go down. He had a sharp and suspicious glance. He told me that I did not have the right to drive with a vehicle registered abroad! I was amazed. I gave him my passport, my driving license, the carnet de passage en douane and the insurance certificate. It contemplated these documents then told me that he had to phone to check their validity. He gave me the order to go up into the cabin and to wait. I had patience nearly 45 minutes. Of course during waiting I passed by all the states of heart. He came back to tell me that I was to ask for a traffic license, I pointed out to him that my vehicle was a motor home and no a commercial vehicle etc the discussion lasted a while but I realized that his glance had changed, it was sneering. My attitude was always deferent and respectful by employing the term “Sir”. Finally he wished me a welcome in British Columbia… Whatever is the country the policemen always adopt the same attitude, suspicion then comprehension, when there is no fault. After this police episode I visited the charming village of Chemainus which developed the art of the mural to attract tourists and to do business. It was then Nanaimo a port of ferry for the continent. I tried to find Visitor Centre, que nenni I gave up to stop me at the exit of the city behind a Shopping Centre.
Mural painting
Chemainus
09/05/2011
Mural painting
Chemainus
09/05/2011
Mural painting, First Nation
Chemainus
09/05/2011
Old house
Chemainus
09/05/2011
By a sad gloomy day I moved towards Port Alberni. Little before the city along Lake Cameron MacMillan Provincial Park develops strolling trails with interpretive signs about Cathedral Grove, sanctuary of the Red Cedars. I thus learned the origin of this tree as well as of the Douglas-Fir. As with accustomed, it was a nature-lesson in situ.
Cathedral Grove
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Interpretive Trail
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Roots
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Interpretive Trail
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Roots
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Interpretive Trail
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Interpretive Trail
MacMillan PP
10/05/2011
Port Alberni does not offer much attraction if not a charming small museum which recalls the life of the natives and the first settlers. Alas scenography has a scanty lighting for the native objects and the remainder is the usual odds and ends of the 19th and beginning 20th century items. After a stop at the Library for a Internet WiFi connection, I lunched and bivouacked on the spot.
Museum
Port Alberni
10/05/2011
Pacific Rim National Park
Hwy 4 towards Ucluelet crossed landscapes still covered with snow. The outside temperature of 10°C was supplied with a maritime drizzle. Pacific Rim NP extends on 22 km on the West coast of Vancouver Island from Tofino to Ucluelet which was occupied since more than 5000 years by Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. Several trekking make it possible to see these landscapes sculpted by wind, sea and bad weather. I walked two of them. Initially I visited the Interpretive Centre at Wickaninnish Beach exhibiting items of First Nations culture. Then I strolled on the 5 km return of the Nuu-chah-nulth Trail in a rainforest.
Towards Ucluelet
Hwy 4
11/05/2011
Interpretive Centre
Pacific Rim NP
11/05/2011
Interpretive sign
Nuu-chah-nulth Trail
11/05/2011
Totem pole
Nuu-chah-nulth Trail
11/05/2011
Rainforest
Nuu-chah-nulth Trail
11/05/2011
Then I went to Ucluelet to make another trek, Wild Pacific Trail, a 2.5 km loop. The very rugged coast was the theatre of more than one hundred of shipwrecks. The village presents little interest if not to be a seaside resort with many places of stay in season. At the end of the day I left the coast to find a bivouac on the road back to Port Alberni.
Interpretive sign
Wild Pacific Trail
11/05/2011
Rainforest
Wild Pacific Trail
11/05/2011
Flora
Wild Pacific Trail
11/05/2011
Rugged coast
Wild Pacific Trail
11/05/2011
Winding tree
Wild Pacific Trail
11/05/2011
On east coast
It rained all the night and during the day after, I made a Internet stop at the library in Port Alberni to read my mailbox. The only attraction of the road was reading signposts, true English "crash" course. By arriving in Qualicum Beach it was difficult to find a free bivouac on the East coast of Vancouver Island. Here there is no law of the littoral, the East coast is occupied by residences. Finally I found a spot to spend the night vis-ŕ-vis Denman Island. The rain never ceased falling.
English course
Hwy 4
12/05/2011
Denman Island
Hwy 19A
12/05/2011
Friday May 13 I made three visits. In Comox I visited I-Hos Gallery which exhibits very beautiful modern masks. Opposite Big House, Parliament of the aboriginal people at the top of which thrones the sculpture of a mythical bird, to see the Gallery.
Sunrise
Union Bay
13/05/2011
I-Hos, mask
Comox
13/05/2011
I-Hos, mask
Comox
13/05/2011
Big House, Assembly Hall
Comox
13/05/2011
In Courtenay the District Museum & Paleontology Centre presents skeletons and fossils of several million years old animals.
District Museum
Courtenay
13/05/2011
District Museum
Courtenay
13/05/2011
District Museum
Courtenay
13/05/2011
District Museum
Courtenay
13/05/2011
Finally in Campbell River the Museum is more particularly dedicated to forestry business & industry of wood during the 19th century. This trip was particularly rich in cultural information.
The Museum
Campbell River
13/05/2011
Tori on Strait of Georgia
Courtenay
13/05/2011
Nort Island Route
At the end of the morning I landed in Telegraph Cove, there were not soul alive. The Marina was deserted, hotels were closed, only Visitor Centre was open by a charming hostess and her lovely Labrador. The village bears its name after a telegraphic station installed in 1900's, its official population is 6 inhabitants. I strolled on the boardwalk where all the cabins were referred by their history. The highlight of the place is a Museum exhibiting skeletons of whales and dolphins in an antique wooden hall, highly recommendable. I found a bivouac spot at the exit of the village on the back road.
En route
14/05/2011
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
Marina
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
Telegraph
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
Telegraph
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
The Whale Interpretive Centre
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
Museum
Telegraph Cove
14/05/2011
In this second weekend of May only visible attractions were outdoor and only in Port McNeill. An old Steam Donkey to transport logs and the World's Largest Bulk weighing 24 tons and more than 525 year old. In Port Hardy driving away there was nothing to see.
Beaver Cove
15/05/2011
Totem pole
15/05/2011
Steam Donkey
Port McNeill
15/05/2011
World's Largest Bulk
Port McNeill
15/05/2011
I head back to Port McNeill to publish my site with the WiFi Internet connection of the port, my computer was on a table to clean fish. I bivouacked on the spot. The following week I drove back to the continent to take a parcel sent by my brother in poste restante in Vancouver.
Cleaning fish table
Port McNeill
15/05/2011
