Vancouver Island, Canada - July 2011

Horseshoe Bay from the ferry (complete with snow-capped mountains)

After a wonderfully rich and varied fortnight in the Seattle area, we finally bade farewell to our brethren there and greyhounded north, across the border into Canada, via Vancouver City, Horseshoe Bay and across the Salish Sea, and into Nanaimo - our basecamp for the next three days, where our dear friends Dave and Susan awaited with a pleasantly full itinerary.

We got to know them a good six, maybe seven years ago, when Dave co-promoted the legendary Gilded Palace of Sin in Brighton, and booked a fledgling Morning Bride on the strength of our first, self-released single (a man of fine taste, it goes without saying). Much water under the bridge since then, and for the last few years they've been residents of Vancouver Island's second 'city'.

Before dark on our first evening there we'd enough time for a walk around Piper's Lagoon and the surrounding coastline and pine woodland; plenty of birds, beautiful evening sunshine and a millpond-still sound between us and the mainland.

Anna's Hummingbirds back at the apartment

Our second day dawned sunny and mild, with pit-stops including a hike to a high look-out point, a native American petroglyph site and a while downtown before much of the day on Protection Island, an idyllic and beautiful island a short boat ride out into the bay.

Smuggler's Beach, Protection Island - a geological jewel hidden behind the woods....

Warm sunshine, barely another soul and the special side of the island pretty much to ourselves, we outstayed our welcome as long as we could.

Nanaimo Bars - oh yeah

Day Two involved stop and go's at a host of sublime (and occasionally ridiculous) spots along the island's eastern flank, utilising Highway 4, VC's only main road, to the fullest. First up, the beautiful Little Qualicum Falls, a procession of waterfalls nestling in the forest; then onto the only remaining section of virgin forest on the island, Cathedral Grove - 800 year-old Douglas-Firs up to nine metres in circumference, and a suitably humbling sight.

From there, a picnic lunch along a lakeshore; a head-spinning wander around Coombs, a surrealist and uber-trashy shopping outpost / resort; a visit to the wonderfully-run North Island Recovery Centre (eagles to bears and plenty more besides); and finally, a fine birding session at Buttertubs Marsh on the outskirts of Nanaimo in the evening sunshine.

The following morning and we were on the road again, at least after once more negotiating the beautiful Salish Sea, and back south of the border via the 'hound and, briefly, to Seattle; a late dinner and a hook-up with comrade Erin, a singalong drive southbound with her to Portland, Oregon, a night and day there, and on the road once more, this time southbound into California.