Woke up, stuck my head out the curtains of the balcony and noticed that if there had been a forest out the back as we had suspected last night, someone had come during the night and cut it all down. Because apart from one or two trunks, we had a marvellous view of the beach and further out, the Straits of Georgia and the Canadian coast.

We took a short drive down the road into Parksville proper and bought some provisions – and batteries for the camera – at a supermarket, came back to the cabin and had breakfast. As you can tell from the photos of the cabin, the new batteries did the trick and the camera started working again.

We decided that after breakfast, a long walk along the beach was in order. The weather was kind of bleak, and the air brisk, but the straits were calm and the horizon very interesting.

There was a patch of sand where people had piled rocks in little cairns. Considering that perhaps this was a local custom for visitors, we added our own to the group, and walked on.

Eventually we came to a point where it was kind of obvious that we should either retrace our steps or keep going and hope that it turned into a loop. There wasn’t much chance of the loop scenario, so we turned back and walked with the sea to our left for a change.

Back at the cabin, we ate lunch and read and napped for bit, while deciding what our next move would be. A place called “Little Qualicum Falls” sounded picturesque, and close enough to drive there, look around, and drive back before it got dark. There was also a place further inland called “Cathedral Grove” that sounded worth a visit also.

On the way there, we noticed a lot of arts and crafts places and figured on stopping on the way back to look around.

Little Qualicum Falls turned out to be a bunch of walking tracks, weaving their way in and around a river surrounding by fairly dense rainforest. We parked the car and started walking, dodging the occasional drops of water making their way through the canopy.

We walked all the way around the two bridges over the river, taking a number of photos. Despite the fact that there were several cars parked when we arrived, we only saw one couple walking at one point on the track across the river. There were two waterfalls, a “lower” and an “upper” one. I’m sure there are many waterfalls in the world that surpass these on a scale of spectacallity, but there was something about the tranquility and mistiness of the place that was very seductive. I liked it.

We walked back to the car and only got lost once. With our woolly hats it was like our own little Blair Witch project. When we got back to the car, we were the only ones parked there. Everyone else had left. We decided not to drive on to Cathedral Grove but to turn back towards the coast and check out one of the craft places. It was looking like it might get dark at any moment.

We navigated our way back to our cabin in the dark, rested for a bit, then walked down to the restaurant again for a “light” dinner. This plan didn’t really work – we had dinner, but it just wasn’t “light”. I don’t think they know how to do “light”. The appetizers were pretty good, and I limited myself to a bowl of seafood chowder for my main.