Today started out fairly decent, then it rained, then it didn’t rain, then it rained, then it didn’t rain, Then we heard someone on the dock say something about “Ready for the wind?” to someone else and….as we drove away from our little vacation spot, I checked the weather and saw a wind warning.
Uh oh.
Checking the ferry schedule shoed that there were evening cancellations. Luckily, our ferry was still scheduled, but anything after about 6-7pm had been cancelled for a few routes. Nature is clearing the leaves from he trees, it’s that time of year again.
All good.
We had all day to play.
We started off with a little visit down to Mill Bay, and then made our way back up and into Shawnigan Lake and to the Kinsol Trestle.
On the way in to the park we were stopped by a road block…made of turkeys…
What a fabulous place! An old, and VERY impressive trestle bridge that carried trains between Victoria and Sooke back in the day. And I loved that the picnic tables at the parking lot each held a vase of fresh flowers. That is not something I’ve ever seen in a public park ❤️
The trail Is broad and flat and I thought….’if I lived here I would probably run on this every day!’
The bridge was fantastic! The rain had swollen the Koksilah River below, and the mists swirled in around the bridge as we admired it.
The place was a pretty setting, made all the prettier by the colours of the changing season. The dampness hardly mattered with the beauty of the spot.
When we left the park and headed down a back road int he general direction of Ladysmith via Cobble Hill I poked around on the map to see what might be nearby.
“Hey, do you want to visit a cidery? It’s on the way and only about 5 minutes ahead!“
Do you ever make a random choice to do something and end up being so grateful that you did? That was this little unexpected side trip. Merridale Cidery & Distillery.
Just wow!
The ciders were amazing, but the spirits! A spiced rum made with pressed apples instead of cane sugar? A spectacular apple brandy? A fabulous pear liqueur! Everything was delicious and though we don’t typically drink much int he way of hard alcohol, we definitely left with a few mottles.
We stopped in Ladysmith and walked the little old town section. Quaint and fun, and picked up a couple of little pottery tea light holders that made me smile. And then it was on to our last destination before heading into Nanaimo for our ferry…a late lunch at the Crow & Gate Neighbourhood Pub. A friend, who liked to call himself “The Other Bill Bennett” took me here probably 20 years ago, and I’d never been back. But I remembered the warmth of the place, and its charm. And it was as I remembered it, a warm and inviting place for a pint and a bowl of soup on a blustery day.
Given the impending weather and cancelled sailing, we were NOT going o be late for our vessel, so we headed to the terminal early, parked in our lane, and then vacated the lot for a nearby pub rather than sit in the truck in the rain, or wait in the terminal. Our ferry left only a few minutes late, and the sailing was uneventful. A great long weekend getaway 😊
