365

365 days, 16 countries and a full circumference of the globe. So how much would a trip like this cost? The tickets, 20 flights, cost almost exactly £2000. We bought a couple more, at about £120 each, along the way. A long van rental in Australia? Just over 50 days in the off season cost us about £1500 between us. Considering that was our accommodation as well it wasn't too bad. But if anyone if staying longer than a couple of months then buying a vehicle is the way to go.
Our American Subaru set us back a couple of thousand quid and we sold it in a rush for about £900 with it's nagging new fault!


So the real cost it just living. All in all I probably spent about £12,000 just on food, getting around and sightseeing. I bought only a couple of momentous from the trip as carrying the newly purchased items or sending them back expensively is a hassle I can live without. It was enough to carry a backpack and another bag in my hand on those long travelling days, not that they were packed with clothes. For the first 6 months I survived on one pair of boxer shorts!
Since I've been back in the world of odd new phrases like 'credit crunch' many people have asked me what my favourite country is. I've not even scratched the surface as far as world travel goes but I'd definitely like to see more of Japan and New Zealand. America's landscape is amazing and just everyday living in South America was for me the true spirit of what a trip like this is all about.

One person has asked me what my worst country is and to be honest that's an even harder question. I plumped for Bolivia because the people were miserable, there was a lot of civil unrest once we left, but there's some truly beautiful scenery there. The unwanted attention in China and the annoying con-men in Bangkok were only minor bugs in an otherwise exceptional trip. We spent a year almost constantly travelling and encountered only one dodgy situation and even that was not a full week into the trip.
Would I do it all again? Well, yes. I'm not sure if I'd stay away for as long as a year again but six months definitely. Although, for anyone who hasn't already done the year trip then I would recommend it unquestionably.


I've been set a back and left speechless soo many times along the way with soo many memories that keep coming back to me that will stay stored away in a dusty corner of my brain forever. I've come back a red wine and green tea drinker but other than that nothing has changed except for my massive appreciation for the great country of my birth. It's funny how much things about your own country you miss, good British ales for one, and how much the people who live here take everything for granted and really do a good job of putting it all down.
As I go about my daily business I often think that at this very moment there's guys in flip-flops and shades doing some welding in China. There's a bronzed, beer bellied 50 year old guy catching a few waves on his surf board. There's a tour guide explaining the Inca ruins in three different languages. There's a perfect Argentinian steak being served, a stunning American mountain range being snowboarded, a huge New Zealand glacier being explored inside and a funk band playing in the dark clubs of the white city of San Francisco. Whatever it is, wherever it is, when you're travelling there's always something going on and it's almost impossible not to love it.

An American tale

So what of North America. We'd driven right across country dipping in and out of Canada along the way. We'd covered about 26,000 miles in the Subaru and a around 2,500 in hire cars in the 6 months we'd spent here. We'd visited around 31 of the American states, staying in some longer than others. We passed briefly through states like Maryland but stayed a month in California.
There's a reason for that, California has to be one of the most vast, varied and interesting states. It has the best city in the country in San Francisco and has the best national park, Death Valley. A state like this has everything anybody like me could want, surf, snow, winding coastal roads, Spanish towns, desert, cities, huge wilderness, large mountains and vast forests. If there's any state that can beat that I don't know anything about it.


As far as I'm concerened, the states of the west far outweigh the ones to the east for things to see and do. The east may have some picture box towns and a couple of decent cities but it can't compete with the sometimes wacky nature of the land of the west.


We kept largely away from the vast wilderness of Canada as the cold further south in the U.S. was as much as we cared to take. There's vast areas to explore there, maybe one day I will.
On the whole I hate North America and I absolutely love it. Over 90% of the towns and cities aren't worth visiting at all as they're all so generically the same. But it's the nature, the massive expanses, the unbelievable scenery and the feel of an endless outdoor playground that still make North America a place you must visit. If you can put up with crap food and worse culture then you will be rewarded with some of the most weird and wonderful landscapes on this planet.

More French than France

Normally I haggle a bit on the price of a motel. This almost always works except for here in Quebec. All English has all but disappeared and the abrupt attitude of the people towards our Englishness means no discount for us! Again we look around a couple of motels, neither of which offer non-smoking rooms, and settle for one rather nice place outside of town. I attempt speaking a bit of French here and there as I desperately try to remember the school days. It seems that I can do nothing but think of the Spanish for everything which makes it all the more confusing. There are benefits to this French speaking madness as it does feel like a break from the Americanised world with a bit of a taste of the good living of Europe once again.
Instantly Quebec is a quieter and better looking city than we've come across in Canada. In fact it feels a lot more historic and European than anywhere we've seen in North America.
Quebec is also the name of the territory in which Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec itself resides. Some years ago the idea of Quebec becoming a separate country in it's own right was put up for vote. The majority decided to stay with Canada but it just shows how the Quebec people feel about themselves and their territory. Unlike other areas of Canada where signs read in both French and English here the English has been dropped altogether. There's no compromise. It's French and that's that. Again, it seems no-one told these people that the British won and in fact they've been part of the British Commonwealth for hundreds of years now.


The downtown area of the city is typically dull but at least this time 'downtown' is the right description. The real heart of the city is high above on and around a large hill overlooking downtown. It's an old walled city that includes a fort that was built to fend off the British, it failed but still looks great. Once you're within the old city walls everything changes and you're thrust into a French town complete with cobbled streets narrow alleyways and tall thin stone buildings. It's unashamedly European and I love it. Unfortunately it's much chillier than Montreal and up here on the hill ice still remains. We dive into a pizza restaurant where we eat the best pizza we've had or seen in North America, nobody yet has managed to beat the Peruvians on quality pizza making.
In the daylight of the following morning we get to see Quebec in it's real light and much warmer sunshine. Lots of places here declare themselves as being 'National'. Like the parliament, which blatantly isn't national as that is housed in Ottawa. National this and National that just really means that is the capital of the territory of Quebec. Great buildings though and a large square houses a mixture of these 'national' structures but it seems one has had a recent fire and all but the stone frontage has succumb to the flames. It turns out to be the once grand looking army barracks.
We take a stroll over the park where the English defeated the French toward the river. It's another murky looking thing that looks less appealing when that wind blows. We follow a boardwalk that is built along the edge of a main wall over the river and spot some graffiti reading, "Go home Canadians". This is followed underneath by, "I am home". This again shows a little bit of the attitude of the people. Not all of them really consider themselves to be part of Canada. It's all very odd to me.
We walk around the grand green roofed chateau overlooking the water toward a street of outdoor cafes. This feels just like Europe.
And, like Europe, the food is right on the money too. Finally we're eating good bread and pastries again. Just to have a sandwich here is great. I've no idea how America got used to being fed such bad overpriced bread and poorly baked pastries and cakes but they think everything they do is amazing so nothing has changed. Once over the border and into Canada the food instantly improves. Supermarkets have butties and other such take-away items that are totally edible and there's plenty of choice too.
In Montreal there was the small old town area but here it's vast. Street after street looks superb, although street parking is somewhat expensive. At this point we decide to only put minimal amounts into parking meters. I like these things because quite often you turn up and the previous driver has left some time on the meter. We duly get a parking ticket for leaving the car for four hours and only paying for one. The ticket is for $25 and totally written in French. I'm sure this should be illegal. Either way we're not paying it.
A bit lower down from the large Chateau is the Small Champlain area, named after a French explorer. This is a pedestrianised collection of alleys, narrow shopping streets and squares. Brilliant. Americans can't get cities right, except for a couple of exceptions, so coming here is like a breath of fresh air. It's funny how we've thought that some of the best cities in the world have some flavour of Europe about them. We can't help but think how lucky we are to live in such close proximity to vast array of great places Europe has to offer.


Flash boutiques, clothes and ice cream shops are dotted around Small Champlain, aswell as the odd well finished wall mural.
The outdoor life is part of the French way of life and translates well here. I like this place a lot and it without doubt is one of the top cities in North America.


We heard cheers from a pub the previous night due to the Montreal ice hockey team winning the famous Stanley Cup. The celebrations were later shown on TV. Around downtown Montreal police cars were over turned and set fire too and windows were smashed in and places like 'Footlocker' were looted in full view of tv camaras. Molotov cocktails were thrown at the police and so on. I'm glad we left when we did!
Before leaving we drive along the waterfront, the city has a large river or two flowing around it, to view the most expensive and highly sought after accommodation in Quebec. These blocks of flats were built in the 60's for the World Expo that was held here. They were hailed as a marvel of modernist design for their grey quirky boxy nature. They couldn't look more grim if they tried. A large industrial silo stands a hundred metres away and other large industrial rusting structures are all within a stones throw of these multi-million pound apartments. Overpriced and pretty ugly. It's such a shame that these are consider the place to live when old town Quebec is clearly a far more attractive proposition.
Quebec is great but our budget has been hammered by consistently overspending in Canada. It's not far to the American border from here and that's where we're heading. I'd have liked to have seen more of Canada but on this budget we could only see soo much. But still it was enough to make me come to the conclusion that I quite like the place. The vast wilderness and unfathomable expanses to the North will have to be savoured on another trip, one with a more forgiving budget.

Where?

Quick geography question, what is the capital of Canada? Come on, Canada is one of the biggest countries in the world. It's bigger than the U.S.A and still I had no idea what the capital city was, I originally thought it was Toronto or possibly Vancouver but no. Ottawa is the somewhat subdued capital city, a bit like Canberra in Australia, it goes unnoticed internationally and has never come up as a tourist destination. But as it wasn't too far from Toronto and on our way we thought why the hell not. We'd heard, like Canberra, that there's not a great deal to the place but it's always best to find out for yourself. Besides, we've got a lot of places to compare it to.
First thing's first and sorting accommodation is priority. We look at a couple of overpriced dire rooms, one motel even had a filthy office toilet on display next to the garbage filled counter and chain smoking owner, before settling in a reasonable place out of town. Just over the large river is central Ottawa.
A row of kebab, or kabob as they call them here, shops and a few grimy stores line the roadside before things improve up a small hill. On this slight elevation is the grand parliamentary buildings with their definite French style of green copper roofs and elaborate masonry. We are slowly entering another realm, one dominated by the French. If you didn't know, France used to own huge chunks of Canada but lost out to the British a few hundred years back. For some reason it seems no-one told them they lost. Smatterings of French were about in Toronto but not so much you'd really notice or care but clearly the capital has just that little bit more. You hear French being spoke by all ages all over the city but they still speak fluent English too, they just prefer to speak French. It's all a bit strange really.
Swarms of people are flooding the streets in the hot weather and many gather outside the huge parliament building to picnic or throw a ball about on the grass. Behind the building is a pathway which overlooks the fast flowing chilly river below.
For some reason the people are much more attractive here than I've seen anywhere in North America. It also seems that the nightlife is pretty good and during the day aswell many bars and restaurants are crammed in the outside seating areas. The weather is again good and after the especially long winter here many must be making up for it. Talking to a bar waiter he tells us that the seasons are extreme here, well below freezing in winter and upto 40 degrees centigrade in summer!
After eating in a bustling but disappointing take-away curry house we wander the still warm evening around the bustling cobbled streets surrounding a market area. We return in the sunshine the day after to check out the food at the market and buy a croissant to see if the French influence really has affected the pastries. Oh yes it has. Americans can't make pastry, fact. Canadians can. I'm inclined to believe this is the closer European influence here, which may also explain why there's loads of bars and outdoor places to drink and eat compared to the morose dark bars of America.
We blow some money on a couple of decent ales and a handmade pizza sat outside an almost English style pub. Then it's just over another river to a park that has a long pedestrian and cycleway running alongside the still very fast running water. We stroll along the popular path as rollerbladers and cyclists zoom past as the sun sets over the water. After a day of strolling around European looking buildings, a bustling market and drinks and food outside a pub this seems like a good ending. Back into town and amongst the large residential buildings, mainly occupied by students standing outside drinking, we get a cracking bit of take out food called a Shwarma. This is a Lebanese sort of pita wrap thing that's more akin to a healthy type of kebab.
We left with a good feeling about the Canadian capital. It has a youthful vibrancy of a student town with the nightlife to go with it. With the addition of the great looking national buildings and some narrow cobbled streets and outdoor eateries. There's always plenty of people wandering the streets rather than the frankly deserted American cities, although it doesn't take too long to walk into some rough looking areas. The edges of downtown quickly become dirty and forgotten but around the heart of the city it's clean and characterful.
I really like it when you never know what to expect from a place and it surprises you into being a decent destination. There was no hype about the capital, in fact we'd only heard negative things, so it was all the better once we got there. But it's expensive and for that reason we have to plough on to another couple of cities before heading south again to the cheaper life in the USA.

Typical Toronto

The Toronto skyline looms in the hazy distance as we negotiate the hectic freeway. The driving here is clearly insane. Everything is frenetic as cars constantly weave in and out of lanes full of traffic breaking the speed limit by at least 20 kilometres an hour. A stressed city this surely is. It's also an expensive place, the dearest in Canada, meaning our already stretched budget is breaking here. Thankfully we've amassed loyalty points from the many motels we've stayed in to book a couple of free nights here. The downside is that our first motel is way out of town but on the same road that runs directly through the center and to the waterfront. The traffic is beyond terrible and it takes us a good couple of hours to get about 15 miles, we've not seen traffic like this since Bangkok. At least Bangkok was strange and new to us, Toronto looked like everywhere that has a litter strewn shopping street, tatty undesirable buildings and horrendous traffic.
We take the free accommodation as an opportunity to go to a restaurant and get something decent for once. We'd been cursing the bad food we'd been eating the last couple of days so it was excellent to get some great food at an Ethiopian restaurant, who'd have thought they'd have such gastronomic delights!? The area around the restaurant is clearly the student end of town and it's very busy as a result. There's a youthful cool vibe on the street even though the buildings are run down and it all looks fairly dirty. I expected Toronto to be swish, modern and clean but it's the total opposite. Although I like the student area it still needs work to make it a worthwhile visit.
The next day we move into yet another free nights stay at another motel. Driving anywhere in this city, or on the freeway next to it, is a massive headache as we get stuck in jam after jam whilst impatient Canadians thrust their way into different lanes on a constant basis.
We take a walk around the downtown area hoping for something of interest but find nothing. The large CN Tower that dominates the skyline would be more impressive if we hadn't seen soo many others just like it.
The weather is at least hot now so we venture to the large park on the cusp of downtown. This too is busy as we walk by pens containing various animals in a free to the public zoo type affair. It too has rubbish wafting around and the animals don't seem to impressed either. We walk by a murky lake that seems to be contaminated with oil. Still, it's popular with mothers pushing prams but maybe they're making the most of the good weather. In Winter Toronto gets freezing and there's an underground shopping mall to accommodate those icy days. I can't remember off-hand how cold it gets but I'm sure it's somewhere round -16 degrees Celsius, either way it's damn cold. Which then begs the question why would anyone want to live here? The answer to that I have no clue.
Toronto is a massive disappointment, overtly expensive, dirty, choked with traffic, run down and just plain dull. We drove all over town and didn't seen an area of worth. Even with free accomodation and decent food the place couldn't improve. I was glad to leave. We did have one last bit of food before departing though. Fish and Chips from a so-called proper 'chippy', of which you don't really see in North America and Canada. £5 for decent fish but burnt chips. That was their style apparently, everybody had overcooked chips. I can't dislike this place enough.
Let's get to Canada's capital quick sharp!!

Poor Niagara

After a couple of hours drive we arrive in the town of Niagara Falls. We knew that we were going to compare Niagara Falls to Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil and to start off with there are similarities. Like Iguazu, Niagara Falls borders two countries and in a similar way one side is better to view the falls from than the other. But unlike Iguazu, the falls aren't set in a stunning remote landscape. Instead they're right next to a road and casino on the cusp of a town that largely resembles Blackpool on a really cold day. There's no denying the falls are impressive and our first glimpse is from the car whilst heading down toward the river. It comes as a bit of a surprise to see two large water falls gushing with thousands of gallons of water just over the edge of the road but that's just the way it is.
Downtown Niagara is run down, over priced and grim but there are a couple of passable streets nearer the falls themselves. A couple of streets of tat and awful attractions lie abit further on from our motel.
The sun is shining but the wind is cutting as we take a stroll along the river's edge for a closer view of the falls. A rusting barge sits stuck in the flowing river just upstream from the main mouth of the falls. The boat's crew were rescued by using a zip-line from the shoreline water turbine company's building, a day after they were stranded! The thoughts going through those guys heads must've been awful. To know that any moment the powerful river could carry their boat off and over the falls where a huge drop into icy mist would be the last thing they saw.
You can see the US side of the river from Canada and it looks no better. The city of Buffalo, in New York State, is apparently much worse than it's Canadian counterpart and we know it's pointless crossing the border to get a different perspective of the falls as the snow is incredibly deep over there around the viewing areas and we could do without the hassle at customs.
We get up close to the falls at which frequently freezing mist is sprayed across the path and road. A decent walk along the river it is too, obviously I was willing to walk here as parking for $16 is just not in me. There are tours that take you down to the foot of the falls but at this time of year the snow has still overwhelmed the viewing areas by a few feet. Even the edge of the river has ice floating around in it, certainly not somewhere you'd want to be stuck on a boat.
We don't plan on staying long, after you've seen the falls during the day you go back at night and that's your lot. I don't see any point in staying longer so I'm confused as to why it's a popular honeymoon destination. We splash out on a restaurant that night and wish we hadn't after the plain awful pasta we consume. Then it's back down to the falls to see the multi-coloured lights that are beamed on them from the casino each evening. It's an excellent novelty and looks good but standing around for any length of time is a mistake in these temperatures and when that biting mist covers you it's time to leave.
Although there are similarities, in the end Niagara and Iguazu couldn't be more different. Visiting Iguazu is a full days worth of walks through tropical jungle and views of many different falls surrounded by little else other than lush greenery. Niagara is just a grim town with all the class of a rubber plunger that just happens to be alongside a couple of large waterfalls. Still this place is hyped, and therefore world famous and busy, but in comparison doesn't stand a chance against the latin american wonder.
Supposedly, American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw the vastly larger Iguazu Falls and declared, "Poor Niagara!". I can do nothing but agree.
Before rushing off immediately we pass through the wine region and town of Niagara on the Lake. It's supposed have the best persevered 19th century buildings in North America but I again think the people who write these things have noses longer than Pinocchio. Still, the town is nice and there are a few good looking buildings lined along the main street. There's a British theme going on and we can't resist going in to a British shop to get a Double Decker and a Crunchie. Oh how we reminisce over jam, mustard and Fawlty Towers. I also take the opportunity to buy a chicken pie, unavailable in most places we've been, and instantly wish I hadn't when the innards resemble, in taste and looks, a tin of Pedigree Chum which is then wrapped in pastry that clearly shouldv'e been involved in a Chinese dumpling.
We mourn the poor food we've had over the last couple of days whilst sitting by the deep blue lake. People have chosen to swim across this huge body of water, all 52 miles of it, and not one them has been British. 'Maybe I could be the first', I thought, 'Maybe that pie has affected my brain!'. The water is terribly cold and certainly not for the weary traveller.
We leave the white buildings of Niagara on the Lake with the odd English accent hanging in the air as we press on to Canada's most expensive and packed city, Toronto.

On to London

First things first. I'm now back in Blighty, which shows how far behind on the blog I am, however I have to finish this thing and as I use my diary and photos to write my blog it doesn't make any difference. The other thing is that the photos for the next few entries are currently unattainable due to being on my laptop for which we don't have a British plug for. But soon I will.
I'll start with another amzingly useless fact: Detroit is the only American city that looks south onto Canada. This is due to the position of the land around the huge body of water in-between the countries. Right in downtown is a tunnel to Canada, we accidentally turned into it one night and had to turn around swiftly. There's also a long bridge and that's the one we take to leave the US customs construction zone to enter Canada for the last time. The Canadian customs official seemed confused over our car ownership but not too concerned to keep us longer than 5 minutes.
The landscape broadens out and has a flat green Belgium kind of look to it. Our first destination is London in the state of Ontario. London is in the county of Middlesex and has the Thames River running through it, how twee.
It's a half decent looking city if a bit rough around the edges, bits of rubbish float around as agressive looking homeless trawl the streets giving abuse for tips. But it's good to see a lively place again with hordes of people on the streets shopping and going about their business. Canada definitely has a more Euro feel to it than across the border.
We underestimated how expensive Canada is in comparison to the US. We were struggling on our budget enough in America but now it's even worse as accomodation prices have soared and quality plummeted. A long jaunt in Canada is not really an option for us.
We check out town with a brief walk around the park, war memorials and a proper tank adorn the place, to then walk the few blocks making up downtown. There's a student-rocker population about and plenty of dingy looking bars for them to occupy. The Greeks also seem to have taken a stronghold in town and judging by their food rightly so. We try a Souvlaki, an excellent sort of pork donner kebab style thing. In England this kind of thing would be inedible and only passible when you're devoid of all taste, and balance, on a night on the ales but here it's quality food.
We're only really stopping over in London to get somewhere else but I don't mind it. We attmept a stroll along the river the next morning but the Thames is murky and the banks are overgrown. We walk over a rusty bridge, complete with large rusting industrial pipe, while the icy wind blows down the back of my neck before we give up and move on.
There's a couple of major places we have to see in Canada while we're here and the next world famous one is a couple of hours away along a flat and featureless highway.

Back to British

Passing through Canadian customs we head towards Vancouver Island and back into the Canadian state of British Columbia. It's a fairly large island just off the coast from Vancouver itself. We pass through Vancouver on the way to the ferry and happen upon a long street near downtown that we didn't see during our stay. It was lined with homeless people pushing trolleys or lie on the pavement with rubbish sprawled around them, possibly for sale. Skeleton looking drug addicts fish in the bins whilst guys in wheelchairs hold cardboard signs asking for money. It's an even bigger problem than I'd thought.
We carried on north to catch a morning ferry from a small town in a bay. The ferry ride was decent enough with views back on towards Vancouver and the nearby mountain ranges. It's damn cold though.
We land in the grim port town of Nanaimo and head west across the island through dense forest. It's still cold be we talk a couple of icy walks through some immense tree groves and a waterfall or two. It's all very picturesque.
An overnight stop in Port Alberni in the middle of the island shows off the sunset on the snowy peaks just behind. Although Port Alberni is in the middle of the island it has a large inlet from the ocean in which boats bring and take goods in from. It's another non too special looking place.
The drive towards the west coast from here is spectacular and we often pass or stop off at beautiful still mirrored lakes.
It's fairly quiet and the trees and mountains of this island are almost reminiscent of New Zealand. Snow surrounds us everywhere now and is piled higher than the car by the roadside.
We arrive on the west coast and at the Pacific Rim National Park. It's another UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are walks a plenty here that are mainly over slippery boardwalks in lush forests. It's a stunning place. After a boggy walk we stroll for an hour or so through thick rainforest to arrive on a rugged beach on which waves hammer the jagged rocks and pebbled beach.
The west coast of Vancouver Island is unprotected from the force of the Pacific Ocean and it gets battered constantly, no wonder there are a few surf shops around here. The driftwood here is huge. Giant trees have been buffeted about by the tumble-dryer ocean and stripped of their bark before being thrown onto the shoreline. It's a good place to get away from it all too as no-one is around. The weather is a bit drizzly and cold but the whole place looks mysterious and moody because of it. We stop in a town and eat great fish and chips and ponder over the amount of surfers that must frequent the place in summer.


We hit Long Beach the next day and it certainly lives up to it's name. A wide and long stretch of dark sanded beach that curves on into the distant sun which is masked by spray from the pacific. A couple of brave souls run into the sea with boards. Nutters!
A small aboriginal community live next to the beach in run down houses all with satellite dishes.
We wander into another dense forest in which two large bald eagles swoop by us to attack some prey in a tree. It scares the life out of me at first, they were soo close and the place had been deathly silent beforehand.


We drive further along the coast, heading north, to arrive at the end of the road in the town of Tofino. It's a small place and not bad looking. It's a life based around water here. A family waits by the dock for a small boat to come and take them and their shopping across the bay. A couple of seaplanes bob around by the dock waiting to fly off towards the mountains. The blues of the sky and the water seem accentuated as the family boards a boat across the bay towards their roadless town.
The sun sets across Long Beach and it's thin layer of water glistens over the wide stretch of sand. Back inland to Port Alberni and stories of real cold weather further north from the motel owner. He told us in his younger days people had to leave their cars running whilst they went into supermarkets or else they'd freeze up. They'd have two sets of keys. Now there's points at supermarkets where you can plug your car in to stop it turning into a block of ice whilst you go and buy groceries. Serious cold and I want none of it!
Driving towards the east coast the sky is clear and the mountains are in full view reflecting off the huge lakes we pass. We reach a small town called Chemainus. This town was falling apart a few years back. It couldn't sustain itself until someone came up with the idea to paint a couple of large murals outside. This sparked more murals and now the town is covered with various murals depicting local history, some better than others.

The mural idea was to bring tourists, and therefore money, into town. It worked a treat and made the town decent looking too.
Multicoloured wooden houses add to the scene as well as small town shops and the odd totem pole thrown in for good measure.
Further on down the road we stop at the tired town of Duncan. We drive around a couple of available motels that all look like sets from films about drug addicts. We pick the best of a bad bunch.
On we go to the capital of the state of British Columbia, Victoria. I thought it odd that the capital wasn't Vancouver and that a state capital would be off the mainland. But Victoria justifies it's status. It's a nice city that's a decent size not to be crowded but not to be completely deserted either. As it's name suggests, it's a fairly English looking place and has plenty of European style buildings. A decent harbour adds to the place and is a decent place to stroll that is overlooked by the large and grand government building and a vine covered hotel both designed by the same 24 year old architect. Inside the government building you can wander around taking in a bit of Canadian history and it's British background.
Big thanks have to be mentioned to Jen at this point for putting us up, and up with us, for the days we were in the city. Including the excellent food she made for us and supplying us with Lucky beer! You really helped us out.
Nearby we take a day out of the city to go to Sooke pot holes. This is an area worn down and smoothed off by gushing water that has made deep pools in the rock.
Back in the city the homeless count is fairly low compared to where we've been and we only get asked a couple of times for cash.
We go for a night at a local cinema which is ultra cheap and watch two films back to back. It has to be the loudest cinema I've ever been in, people are constantly talking and making comments about the films or eating the loudest possible food available to mankind. There's even a guy fast asleep and snoring loudly! The audience breakout into applause after the first cheesefest movie ends. Dire. It's the first time I've ever been in a cinema when people have applauded. 'Into the wild' is the other film and is far better, it doesn't get any applause at the end though!
On the edge of town is a stony shoreline with a clear blue ocean calmly lapping up against it. The sun is out and although it's cold it's decent break from city life. It doesn't feel like a city when you're strolling along an undeveloped coastline looking out towards the Olympic mountains of America. There's a decent park nearby too and further along the coast is a British looking graveyard full of the past residents of Victoria, mainly from Scotland and England.
Jen takes us to a bar in town, Big Bad Johns. It's a small place covered in old bank notes, number plates, the odd fake spider and bras. Once you start these things it seems they just get out of control. Whilst in mid-conversational flow the barmaid lowers a rubber chicken down onto my lap from fishing wire at the bar. It frightens the bejesus out of me to much humour to the rest of the bar.
I like Victoria. It's a nice looking place that's got the trappings of a city without the overcrowding. It's waterfront is a good looking place to stroll around and it doesn't take long to be on the beach and away from the hustle and bustle.
Vancouver Island itself is a cracking place. Not all the towns have much to offer but the natural beauty is worth the visit alone. It's mountains, lakes, forests and coastline are stunning. Its capital is a worthy one and it's far from crowded. A decent place to be and probably a decent place to live.
But back to the US we go and a ferry awaits to take us across the water.