We tried to make a booking for the ferry to take us from Victoria, Vancouver Island back to Port Angeles in the state of Washington, USA but were told that they only allow 40% of the space on board to be booked in advance, the rest of the space is on a first come first served basis and the bookable spaces were booked up for weeks in advance. There was a ferry departing at 10.30 in the morning which would mean us either getting up very early to ger in line or even...

We took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Vancouver Island which took one hour 40 minutes. The island is 450k long and 100k wide and is laced with colourful and quirky settlements many founded on fishing and logging. It also has the most stunningly beautiful coastline full of rocky beaches and hidden inlets where bears come down to the water to feed on the salmon jumping out of the water. We stayed a night in Nanaimo and then moved to Campbell River which locals...

We took 3 days to drive from Jasper to Vancouver. The temperature reached 36 on each day so we tried to set off each day early and be stopped somewhere by 3 p.m. latest otherwise driving just became unbearable in the heat. At each stop Peter took advantage of the pool and I had to sit under the awning as even under an umbrella it was too hot for me. Sometimes on long journeys you make an unexpected discovery and one day in the middle of nowhere we found a smalli...

BC is no longer predominantly British but Victoria the provincial capital, which began as the Hudson Bay Trading Co in 1843, still retains some elements of British life - a gentle pace, traditional afternnoon teas and a sense of order. With its historical buildings, colourful Chinatown and colourful parks and gardens the centre of Victoria is very picturesque. Everything is set around the Inner Harbour with the usual Chateau taking centre spot. The harbour itse...

To reach Jasper you cruise the 230k Icefields Parkway which has massive sheets of glacial ice flowing down the valley to the road. Tumbling rivers, waterfalls, towering peaks, abundant wildlife and hiking at every bed. There are lakes and glaciers galore the largest of which is 340m thick and can be reached on foot or by special glacier buses. The water you see melting at the bottom of the glacer fell as snow on the icefield about 175 years ago. Jasper is not...