On the road again

8th May: Day 9

Today we left Tofino in brilliant sunshine to drive back the way we came to Parksville for a three-night stay. The sky was a clear blue and the sunshine was bright, which made the drive very pleasant. The road that had appeared to be downhill all the way didn't seem to be particularly uphill on the return - it seems hard to believe it was an optical illusion,but either that or this little car has a much more powerful engine than we thought. It was a shame that we had a few cars behind us so we couldn't stop and take photos, especially when Ned suddenly shouted "Bear!!". There it was, just on the other side of the concrete barrier at the side of the road. As the road is single carriageway, stopping to take a picture probably wasn't a good idea! But we were thrilled to have seen a real live wild black bear.

When we drove through the snowy area we did stop to take pictures:


but the snow was very crystalline and a bit rubbish for snowballs which is why the one I threw at Ned fell apart in mid-air.


Then we saw some poo on the snow; being in the middle of nowhere it was unlikely to be dog poo, but it definitely looked like carnivore poo. We got back into the car.

We found the Tigh-na-Mara hotel without a problem; our room here is amazing! There are a lot of little log cabins in the grounds, but we have a 'suite' on the top of a three-storey log cabin block.

(It only looks two-story but it's on a slope and the ground floor is lower than ground level, if you see what I mean.)
We have a sitting-room with a log-effect gas fire, a fully-fitted kitchen as well as a beautiful bedroom.



And a terrific view from the balcony.




Canadian TV is strange; there's no discernible moment when an advert break begins or ends, and with some programmes that can lead to great confusion!