Saturday 5th of June - Victoria and Vancouver Island

Woke up about six o'clock, feeling quite tired and my left thigh quite painful, not sure how much I would be able to walk today, which would be a shame as I am going out with MKitty, anyway pootled around a bit and went for breakfast, I had paid in advance for breakfast during my stay however when I checked in I was only given one voucher, checked with reception and they are going to drop off the rest of the vouchers in my room later today. Had the "Sunshine Breakfast" scrambled eggs with ham, hollandaise and fruit on muffins, with tea, really rather pleasant.

Ambled around the hotel for a while and then went out for a small walk. My hotel is only a block away from the parliament building, so really quite centrally located, there is a lovely little park with the shields of all of the Canadian Provinces in it that I had a look at, and just opposite is the state government building which looked very impressive. Crossed the street to the wax museum and had a chat with the lady on the tourist bus stall, she gave me a few details and I declined to purchase a ticket until tomorrow.

Didn't want to get too far from the hotel as Mkitty was picking me up at 10:30 and as my thigh was somewhat uncomfortable I didn't want to have to rush back from anywhere. Went back to the room and read for a while and then went to sit outside to have a cigarette, no hotels seem to have smoking rooms any more, and this one has banned smoking on the balconies as well.

At almost the exact time MKitty and Mr MKitty strode round the corner and greeted me, MKitty then said that I had a choice, we could go to Buchart Gardens, or we could go round the island a bit visiting wineries, taking a ferry across an inlet and driving back through the countryside. I always enjoy my visits to Wisley (www.rhs.org.uk/wisley) and appreciate the beauty of the gardens, however I'm not knowledgeable about plants, and so I asked if they would be OK with the tour, they were and we set off.

They drove me through the back of Victoria giving me information on the city, before too long we were out of town and starting to see a bit of country, they showed me the outside of their house, which looked gorgeous, if any of my invisible friends come to the UK, I may indicate my flatlet from the M25, but that would be about it :-)

Our first stop was at the Barking Dog vineyard, which turned out to no longer be a vineyard, but was now a distillery specialising in Victoria Gin, the chappie in charge showed us the distillery itself and explained how they make their various spirits, we then went upstairs to the lovely Natalie to sample the wares. They had laid out the ingredients used for the gin including a secret ingredient! My guess would be sassafrass, however I'm not sure. Tried the gin, very citrus, I liked it, think it would be very refreshing with tonic on a summers day, the aged gin, interesting but I don't remember it particularly, some bitters which were quite good, an eau-de-vie made from wine which was very brandyish but clear, and a vodka which was really very interesting it was made with hemp seed which gave it an oily, olivy mouth feel, purchased a bottle for bairn, but I'm wishing that I had also bought one for myself. MKitty also purchased some vodka, along with some of the bitters.

We then drove on to Brentwood Bay, just near Buchart gardens and parked in the front of the queue for the ferry then popped to a very posh pub for lunch, I had an halibut burger with chips and a wedge of a huge gherkin! They did that thing where they served the piece of fish on the bottom part of the bun on one side of the plate and the top of the bun with the lettuce, tomato and gherkin on the other which always seems a little strange to me, so I assembled the sandwich (minus the gherkin) myself. The fish was gorgeous, and the chips were very nicely homemade, Mr MKitty had sweet potato chips which looked battered to me, he and I also had a glass of the same wine which was really rather pleasant. Mr MKitty paid, I have never been good at persuading people to let me pay, they were taking me out for a day with them, suffering my company, I really would have liked to buy them lunch, however it wasn't to be.

Walked slowly back to the car taking in the stunning scenery, beautiful forests on mountains rising over a crystal blue lake, and then we noticed that the ferry had arrived and other cars were overtaking us and boarding, so we rushed to the car! Despite the wonderful weather the ferry wasn't full and so we were able to board without any issues, although the price was surprisingly high I have gone to France for less! The ferry was very small, one proper deck with the cars parked on it, and a higher deck with the lavatories and captain on it, we walked up to the upper viewing area (about 10 foot wide just in front and below of the captain) and gawped at the view, the weather was clear there were a few fluffy cloud enhancing the sky and the water was still as a millpond, it was one of the most beautiful boat trips I have taken, up there with cruising the Corinth canal and the underside of Turkey.

Sadly we reached the other side of the crossing at Mill Bay and drove from there to a vineyard called ??? dash it I cannot remember, where we tasted their wines (Well I only tasted one of the reds as I really don't like the tannins) I have to admit to my surprise at how good they were, their Pinot Gris was flinty and citrussy in a quite amazing way, incredibly light as well, I purchased two bottles one of which will be drunk in Victoria!

We then went on through the country, passing loads of dressed up 16 (18?) year olds dressed up to the nines for "Graduation" and to Cowichan Bay, almost via Mama MKittys' residence! Where the MKittys knew of a Cheese shop and a bakery. The cheese shop was quite small, I wouldn't say that it had more than about 30 cheeses, although as well as local cheeses they did carry a selection from all over the world, including 5 counties cheese, which one rarely sees even in England! Canada has had a habit of using names that are not strictly their own to use in relation to foods, and so I purchased a goats milk Camembert, made with milk from the flock of the owners of the cheese shop, it wasn't as aggressive as goats cheese normally is, and it didn't quite have the pungency of Camembert although this could be because I never gave it time to mature, taken on its own though it was a very nice cheese indeed. We then walked through a little passageway to the bakers, there was a wonderful selection of breads, rolls, and viennoiseries, I purchased a couple of "Pretze" rolls which were quite like a German pretzel, a ficelle, which was pleasant, but was chewy rather than crisp, and a pain au chocolat, not quite flaky enough, but it was a little late in the day.

My cough had been bothering me during the day, and so I ordered a coffee and glass of water in the bakers to calm it down a bit, I also ordered another pain au chocolat, however that was for purely narcissistic reasons, as I was sipping the coffee I realised what Victoria was missing, Tim Hortons! Apparently there is one in Victoria city centre although I didn't track it down, but they are mainly situated out of town in the local shopping parades.

Having purchased a planned supper we headed off to visit another vineyard, I have to admit I didn't care for this one as much, the chappie running it was simply unloveable and I found his white wine, which contained out fifteen varieties of grape (I kid you not) confused and depressing, although the MKitties seemed to enjoy it so I may have been missing something. He did let me try his Gewürztraminer which was surprisingly crisp and dry, although I have to admit I wouldn't have purchased any even if he had some to sell.

Sadly all good things must come to an end, and so we wended our way back to Victoria, along the main roads this time, although there was still deep forest on both sides! MKitty told me about the difficulties of getting in to work in the city over the pass in the mountains when there was snow on the ground, it almost sounded like being at home! On the way back through the city the MKitties went out of their way to show me a restaurant that they had always enjoyed called "Superior" in concept it was similar to Tu Tu Tango, one orders a number of small plates. I reciprocated by boring them with a mention of the Niagara peep meet going to Tu Tu Tango (which had closed when I visited Niagara so Meemo, Pepe, Pene, Seana and I went to a different place).

MKitty and I arranged to meet for lunch on Tuesday, and they dropped me off at my hotel at about half past five, I popped and and refreshed myself before heading out to Superior! A truly wonderful supper, I think this is the first time that I have ever been to a restaurant where I would gladly have ordered anything from the menu (although not the three things that contained nuts) I had some spot shrimp that were to die for, a small cup of a sort of chowder with beans in that was simply amazing, and the charcouterie plate that was again just divine, finished with strawberry and marscapone wonton with caramelised olives that worked perfectly.

All in all a wonderful day, walked back to the hotel and to sleep.