Day 53 Clayburn Creek

Finally, Oct. 18, 2017 I am posting this on the actual day today!  It rained and rained and rained all day today, and I thought perhaps I was not going to get in a walk at all.  But it stopped in the evening, so I went out for a 3.8 km late evening walk along Oswego, Belleville, Government Streets and Dallas Road here in James Bay,  This brings the total distance over the 53 days to 383.0 km. Virtually I am near Clayburn Creek, just outside Abbotsford on the Abbotsford Discovery Trail.

Day 52 Ridgedale

Even though windy and definitely feeling like fall, a good day for walking, and I completed 7.7 km more today, bringing the total distance over the 52 days of the walk to 379.2 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I am on the Abbotsford Discovery Trail, near Ridgedale, just a bit outside Abbotsford.

Day 51 Riverside

So, I got a few days behind again in my posting - it's easier to be regular in walking than in posting!  Today was a good day for walking, as I completed 7.2 km plus 4.5 km for an 11.7 km total for the day. This brings the total distance over the 51 days of the walk to 371.5 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I am now well along the Abbotsford Discovery Trail, near Riverside, just a bit outside Abbotsford.

Day 50: 7.2 km per day average so far

Alas, this was one of the few days that I did not get any walking in, so my total distance over the 50 days of the walk is 359.8 km, the same as yesterday 😒.  For the first 50 days of the walk I have averaged 7.2 km per day.  That is a bit less than the 8.0 km I was aiming for, but overall not bad I guess.  Of course the weather is turning less favourable the next few months here, so it may be a bit more challenging to get in the long walks.  I have not actually worked out the total distance along The Great Trail route I am doing from Victoria, BC to Sackville, NB, but I think I am on track to complete it by spring 2022, my goal. #SeeYouIn22!

Day 49 Mount Johnson

Almost  caught up in posting - this is was for yesterday! On day 49 of the walk (Oct. 14, 2017) I added another 7.7 km (the basic loop along Dallas Road waterfront park, through length of Beacon Hill Park, via Thunderbird Park, and then a bit of James Bay streets for 5.8 km, plus a short evening loop adding 1.9 km more), bringing the total distance over the 49 days of the walk to 359.8 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I have started the Abbotsford Discovery Trail, and will continue on that for a number of days. Today I am near Mount Johnson. Tomorrow (well today really) will be day 50, and I plan to compute the average distance per day for the first 50 days.

Day 48 Langley Township Trail

 On day 48 of the walk (Oct. 13, 2017) I added another 7.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 48 days of the walk to 352.1 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I have just finished the Langley Township Trail past Fort Langley, BC.

Day 47 Fort Langley

On day 47 of the walk (Oct. 12, 2017) I added another 8.3 km through walks in Victoria, BC, bringing the total distance over the 47 days of the walk to 324.7 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I moved from the Pitt River Greenway onto the Langley Township Trail, in the area of Fort Langley, BC. The part of the trail I am just starting in the days ahead is shown on this Great Trail map.

Day 46 Pitt River Greenway

I am almost caught up with recording here the details on the actual day I do the walk!  I have made a pre New Year's resolution to not get behind again! On day 46 of the walk (Oct. 11, 2017) I added another 7.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 46 days of the walk to 316.4 km.  On the virtual tour walk, I am on the Pitt River Greenway, which takes me along dykes along the Fraser and Pitt Rivers.  Fall comes rapidly here in British Columbia, and my walks in Victoria are much cooler than they were just a few weeks ago.  So far I have kept this activity just to myself, my immediate family members, and my doctor, but I think I will do a general announcement on my social media before too long.  I wanted to be sure that I was keeping up with it before doing that.

Day 45 Pitt River

On day 45 of the walk (Oct. 10, 2017) I passed the first 300 km by adding 9.2 km, bringing the total distance over the 45 days of the walk to 308.6 km,  On the virtual tour walk, I am just past Pitt River, BC.

Day 44 Hockaday Nestor, BC

On day 44 of the walk (Oct. 9, 2017 which among other things is the anniversary of the Peekskill meteorite fall!) I added 5.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 44 days of the walk to 299.4 km (so close to the first 300 km!)  On the virtual tour walk, I am east of Port Moody, BC.  This is taking me past some interesting placenames including City Centre (even though we are far from Vancouver city centre!) and Hockaday Nestor (in the modern world a place name with the o changed to a might be more common!).

Day 43 Eagle Ridge

On day 43 of the walk (Oct. 8, 2017) I added 9.2 km, bringing the total distance over the 43 days of the walk to 293.6 km.  On the virtual tour walk, this brings me east of Port Moody, BC in the Eagle Ridge area (see map from yesterday's post).  My real walk continues to be the usual loops around James Bay, Victoria, BC.

Day 42 Port Moody

On day 42 of the walk (Oct. 7, 2017) I added 7.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 42 days of the walk to 284.4 km.  On the virtual tour walk, this brings me into Port Moody, BC.  My real walk continues to be the usual loops around James Bay, Victoria, BC, including the Dallas Road walk, Beacon Hill Park, and a bit of the Inner Harbour walk.

Day 41 Vancouver

On day 41 of the walk (Oct. 6, 2017) I added 11.0 km (a bit tired after yesterday's longer than usual walk!), bringing the total distance over the 41 days of the walk to 276.6 km.  On the virtual tour walk, this took me further along the east side of Vancouver, BC. You can follow along on, with my route on The Great Trail marked in green.

Day 40 False Creek

On day 40 of the walk (Oct. 5, 2017) I added 6.9 km (a bit tired after yesterday's longer than usual walk!), bringing the total distance over the 40 days of the walk to 265.6 km.  On the virtual tour walk, this took me along some of the best known scenes from Vancouver, BC along the False Creek area past Granville Market and along to the region with BC Place and Science World. If you have visited Vancouver, you have probably visited this area.  It includes beautiful harbour views, city scapes, in a varied and vibrant community.

Day 39 Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

On day 39 of the walk (Oct. 4, 2017) I added 11.1 km, bringing the total distance over the 39 days of the walk to 258.7 km.  On the virtual tour walk, this took me to the end of the beautiful loop walk around Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC. In terms of the real walk, instead of my usual loops around the James Bay region of Victoria, BC, I walked through downtown and across the Johnson St. bridge to Victoria West.  There I picked up the trail along the harbour, taking it all the way to the houseboat community at the end of the trail in Esquimalt.  I had read that the views were spectacular from this side, better than the more popular inner harbour walk in James Bay.  I had been sceptical, but after doing the walk I agree.  Incredible walk especially in the last part!  I will later add some photos to this posting. So on Oct. 4 both my real walk and my virtual walk were on incredibly beautiful harbour trails, one in Victoria region and the other in Vancouver region!

Day 38 Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

On day 38 of the walk (Oct. 3, 2017) I added 7.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 38 days of the walk to 247.6 km.  On the virtual tour walk, today's distance takes me into the early part of the beautiful loop walk around Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC.

Day 37 North Vancuver

On day 37 of the walk (Oct. 2, 2017) I added 7.7 km, bringing the total distance over the 37 days of the walk to 239.8 km.  On the virtual tour walk, today's distance takes me from near Canyon Heights into North Vancouver.  Will be crossing into Stanley Park tomorrow! #SeeYouIn22

The route I am taking on The Great Trail is marked on the map below.

Day 36 Sentinel Hill and Canyon Heights, BC

On day 36 of the walk (Oct. 1, 2017) I added 9.1 km, bringing the total distance over the 36 days of the walk to 232.1 km.  Now feeling that I am getting back to my regular routine of a good distance walking each day, mainly in the beautiful James Bay area. On the virtual tour walk, today's distance takes me from near West Bay, BC through Sentinel Hill almost to Canyon Heights.

Day 35 West Bay, BC

On day 35 of the walk (Sept. 30, 2017) I added 7.8 km, bringing the total distance over the 35 days of the walk to 223.0 km.  This takes me from the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal to the community of West Bay, BC.

Days 33-34 Nanaimo Ferry Terminal

Over days 33 and 34 (Sept. 28-29, 2017) I added 11.6 km, bringing the total distance over the 34 days of the walk to 215.2 km.  This brings me to the BC Ferries terminal in the city of Nanaimo, so now I am virtually on the ferry to on mainland British Columbia. The rate of progress has been slower the last few weeks, but now I am back to a higher daily rate again, and hope to achieve #SeeYouIn22.

Days 29-30 Nanaimo

So my walk has now passed the first month! Over Sept 24 through Sept 27 (days 29 through 32 of the walk) I added 25.3 km, which brings the total distance over the 32 days of the walk to 203.6 km.  This brings me to the outskirts of the city of Nanaimo. Will be at the ferry terminal in Nanaimo soon!

Days 28

Today (Sept. 23, 2017 which is day 28 of the virtual walk) I added another 9.6 km of walking around James Bay, bringing the total distance travelled in 28 days to 178.3 km.  I discovered that there is, apparently, a short break in The Great Trail just south of Nanaimo requiring a long diversion 😕, that I am now on.

Days 26-27 Oyster Bay, BC

On Sept. 21 and 22 combined, days 26 and 27 of walk, I added 11.5 km which brings the total distance for the 27 days to 168.7 km.  This brings me past the community of Oyster Bay, BC.

Day 25 Ladysmith, BC

On Sept 20, 2017, which is day 25 of the walk, I added 5.4 km which brings me to a total distance of 157.2 km over the 21 days. This brings me to the beautiful town of Ladysmith, BC.  Maybe I will drop in to the wonderful bakery and have a treat! 😃

Days 22-24 Chemainus, BC

On days 22 through 24 of the walk (Sept. 17-19 inclusive) I added a modest 13.4 km (Sept 17 1.9 km, Sept 18 3.8 km and Sept 10 7.7 km).  This brings the total distance walked over 24 days to 151.8 km, which virtually brings me to the interesting community of Chemainus, BC.

Days 18-21

On Sept. 13 through 16 (days 18-21 inclusive) I added 17.1 km (Sept. 18 6.2 km, Sept 12 5.1 km, Sept. 15 4.8 km and Sept. 16 1.0 km) while walking in the area of Jordan River, bringing the total distance to 138.4 km over the 21 days.  On my virtual The Great Trail trek this took me through Hayward, Somenos, and past Westholme BC

Day 17 Hillcrest, BC

On Sept 12 we did the Botanical Bay and Botanical Beach loop trail just past Port Renfrew - a very beautiful walk, even on the foggy day!  This added 2.8 km for my virtual trip across Canada, and another 1.5 km added in other walking that day.

Therefore, after Day 17 my total distance walked was  121.3 km, which took me past Hillcrest, BC on my way toward Hayward.

Days 11 through 16 Lake Cowichan, Paldi

During these days we were at the CRD camping area at Jordan River.  This is a pretty beautiful place right on the ocean, and we had a great time.  It was not suited to long distance walking though, and my usual daily hikes to the other end of Jordan River village,  or beach walks in one direction or the other.  Here are the details:
Sept. 6 1.0 km
Sept 7 3.4 km
Sept 8 5.4 km
Sept 9 2.9 km
Sept 10 7.1 km
Sept.11 6.3 km
Total 26.1 km

Therefore, after 16 days (Sept. 6-11, 2017), 117.0 km total distance, which takes us from Cowichan River Provincial Park past Lake Cowichan and past Haldi.

Days 9, 10 Deerholme, BC

Sorry followers, due to a variety of factors my walking has slowed a bit, and even the walking I did was not updated here.  I will try to get caught up, and then get back to daily updates. 

This post covers Sept. 4 and 5 (days 9 and 10) during which my walking in James Bay, Victoria added 16.8 km (over the two days 11.1 km on Sept 4 and 8.6 km on Sept 5) to bring the total to 90.9 km.  This brings my virtual position on The Great Trail to just past Deerholme almost to Cowichan Provincial Park.

More updates soon! 

After 10 days (Sept. 5, 2017), 90.9 km total distance, just past Irving Creek on Malahat Mountain.