SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 CAMPBELL RIVER
Saturday evening's clouds gave us a fantastic sunset but also changed our weather completely!
We woke up to the sound of rain early Sunday morning but it only lasted long enough to get everything really wet, then it let up so we went to the Sunday Farmer's Market in Campbell River. It LOOKED like our markets in SLO, but it really was more of a craft show. There were only a half dozen farmers and a couple of bakery booths, the rest were selling all kinds of other things. Some beautfiul hand made gifts and lots of jewelry.
While I picked up a few wonderful veggies, Paul visited the Maritime Museum right off the parking lot.
The Market is held right along the little harbor so it was fun to walk along the docks.
And, PK couldn't pass up this photo op with the killer whale...this is such a huge whale watching area. Lots of killer whales come along these waters, so lots of opportunities to take whale watching tours.
Sunday afternoon the weather held out for us so we could join in the fun at the
Musical Ride of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. How lucky to be in the town when they came through!!! There were 32 riders in the company and they tour the provinces each summer as well as some international trips. Each year two provinces are selected for the visits so this only happens in BC every four years. I couldnt believe how we lucked out with it!!!
Music is played over the loud speaker and the horses and riders do amazingly intricate patterns, crossing between each other, creating wheels, weaving in and out as groups. The precision horsemanship was fascinating to watch.
After the performance the riders came along the fence to talk to small groups of the audience and answer questions.
Training? a full year just to learn the routines
Commitment? 3 years for the riders then back to their own Province and regular police work
Experienced? No, 80% had never ridden a horse before
Later that afternoon, the rain really started coming down, so we spent the evening doing laundry and packing the motorhome for our drive north and our next stop, Telegraph Cove, about 125 miles north.
We were so glad we chose to turn off the main Highway 19 and head down to the cove to find our camping. We stayed at the Telegraph Cove Resort Campground, a lush, wooded and gorgeous camping area about a 1/2 mile from the water. This campground hadn't even shown up in any of my books, I had originally thought we were going to a Marina RV Park, which was just big open lot. What a nice surprise to find this one!
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| A phantom sailboat out at the edge of the cove |
The little town of Telegraph Cove was such a sweet place to spend a few days. The antique sawmilling village built in the 1920's and 1930's has been carefully preserved by the local historical society. There are cottages for rent, restaurants, a coffee shop, gift shop and museum all on the boardwalk.
We did take a couple of day trips out to see the neighboring towns. First stop was at Port McNeil only 20 min north.
Then on to Port Hardy, the last town on Highway 19...the end of the PAVED road on the east coast of the island. There are roads that cross the north end of the island and will get to the west coast but all are gravel logging roads. Not for us.
We had a fish and chips dinner in Port Hardy and a walk along the bay watching all the salmon fishermen before returning to Port McNeill for a little local concert.
Thursday morning we were packing up, too much wet, chilly weather so time to go back south. We parked the motorhome at a gas station along the highway and drove the car about 40 miles west to see the small company town of Port Alice.
Wow, talk about being out in the middle of no where...this is a gorgeous location, the jump off point for those going to the wild west coast using either logging roads or traveling up the inlet often in kayaks. The mill is back in operation and about 800 people make up the community. It was once a booming forestry town and is now a picturesque rural village, named after Alice Whalen, whose family owned and operated three local pulp mills in the 1920's. In 1965, Port Alice became BC's first instant municipality...it was decided that the former town right next to the pulp mill was maybe not the best location to live so the original company town was moved 4 km up the inlet. Then the old town was burnt down.
It was still such a wet and cloudy day we didn't get to see much of the mountains and spectacular scenery but it was a lovely place for our lunch. If we'd had a four wheel drive it would have been fun to take the driving tour out to see some sites in the forest, but can't do it in our SAAB, so we drove back along the forested roadway to pick up the motorhome and go south once again.
Whales, bears and fishing....the main attractions of the northern coast of the island.
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