After a great breakfast in the hotel (including a make-your-own waffle station!!) we headed south to Cathedral Grove - a forest full of ancient trees, ferns and wild raspberries which has two self-guided walks. The tallest tree is photographed below.
We then drove to Coombs and had lunch at the Old Country Market which has goats on the roof!! Yes - you read correctly - see photo!
They have their own section on the website! (www.oldcountrymarket.com)
After a delicious lunch we stocked up on some essentials: Jelly Babies (the official sponsor of this Canada Tour) and chipotle tabasco which is really hard to find in the UK.
We headed to Horne Lake Caves, about an hour from Courtenay, for the three hour caving adventure with our guide Jess-C who was incredibly knowledgeable and convivial and led us through three caves in the forest explaining the calcite formations and speleology. (http://hornelake.com/) It was fascinating, tiring and challenging in equal measure but we felt pretty elated by the end of it and had a great group - One of the members of our group was a Vancouver actress, some were students and some were local families, so Jess-C did a fantastic job in engaging us all.
We were pretty muddy and tired so after more Jelly Babies en route, we showered, did the washing (I love Canadian top-loading machines) and headed out to a local restaurant called 'Locals' for dinner. Locals sources their ingredients within Vancouver Island as far as possible (and that is just about everything as this island is extremely productive) and enjoyed soups, risottos, steaks and a taster plate of fantastic deserts all washed down with some local Pinot Gris. The staff were so welcoming and attentive - particularly as we arrived ten minutes before closing, but they were happy to stay open for us.
Another great day! Thank you Margaret and Marian for making all the arrangements and treating us to such a fantastic experience.
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