Pacific Marine Circle Route

After short but wonderful visits with friends in Victoria (Saanich actually) and Oak Bay, we pressed on to do the 255 km Pacific Marine Circle Route around the southwest corner of Vancouver Island.  The loop starts in Victoria and continues through Sooke, Port Renfrew, Cowichan Lake, Duncan and back to Victoria.  The drive boasts some of the most spectacular and rugged west coast scenery, including the stretch which features the Juan de Fuca hiking trail.

We started with a hike through Sooke Potholes Regional Park, including a quick swim.

Then we drove on through Sooke (note: the Little Vienna Bakery is closed on Mondays, which really pissed us off as this whole trip was about finding great bakeries!) and settled for lunch at Whiffen Spit, following a walk out to the end.  Great spot for dogs.

We then carried on and camped at China Beach Provincial Park, which connects to one end of the 47 kilometre Juan de Fuca Marine Trail.  We hiked down to Second Beach for sunset, then back for a pasta dinner, featuring fresh basil, garlic, plum tomatoes and mozzarella.

Pressing on the next day, we drove to Port Renfrew and Botanical Beach, which is the other end (or beginning) of the Juan de Fuca trail.  Great seascapes…

We finished off by arriving at Gordon Bay Provincial Park on Cowichan Lake for pizza night (as you may have guessed, we like food…).  Now we’re not pizza-making experts like our good friends Johnny or “Cornmeal Andy” and we really need to pick up a good pizza stone, but the Weber BBQ did a reasonable job.  In the spirit of our surroundings, we call it West Coast Rugged Deep Dish.  Weird looking but tasty…