Gorges

There are two quite spectacular ‘gorges’ close by the city in North Vancouver, both with suspension bridges high up over the gorges.  One is at Capilano, and costs $30 to cross the bridge.  The other is at Lynn Canyon, and is free.  We went to Lynn Canyon.  It had some fantastic hiking paths and beautiful streams and waterfalls, and we both made it over the bridge and back - even stopping to take photos on the way, quite an achievement for someone who suffers (mildly) from vertigo, and has been known to get wobbly on escalators.

The ecology centre at Lynn Canyon was excellent, Angus even commenting ‘that was seriously good’.  So we left a donation to support the fact that it’s a free park area, unlike Capilano.

As we approached North Vancouver, crossing the harbour from downtown Vancouver (the Harbour is similar to Sydney Harbour, and heading over to Manly) we could see the low, grey clouds over the mountains to which we were going.  We wondered whether we’d end up in the clouds, and we did (see photo with the mist behind Angus) - fortunately, after we’d had a good walk and crossed the bridge.

The stream was lovely, though sadly I had to tell Angus not to drink it, not knowing what had gone into it upstream. 

The walk was fairly brisk.  We heard a low grumbling noise, and decided to stay close to other walkers, in case it was a hungry bear.  We then realised we needed to learn what to do in the event of meeting a bear, particularly as we’re going to the Rocky Mountains and a few other ‘wild‘ places over the next few weeks.  We got some information later at the ecology centre.  

It didn’t really start raining until we were back at the bus stop, where I used my new investment, an umbrella, for the first time.  A very wise investment, as is becoming obvious.

When we got back to Vancouver, it was cold and wet and dark, and we decided to call into the Greek restaurant, Kerkis, around the corner from our place, on West 4th Ave.  It was really lovely food.  Though it did occur to me that greek food must be one of the simpler cuisines to serve restaurant style, given that all the trimmings (salad, rice, potato, vegetables) were the same for every main meal (or entree as a main is called here, an appetiser being equivalent to an Australian entree), and it’s just marinated meat that’s different on each plate.   My chicken souvlaki was great.  Suitably gorged (get it??) Angus and I got chatting to a rather glamourous looking couple at the next table, who thought he was really clever and lovely - they even gave him a spelling quiz! Which I thought was a quite surprising thing to do really.  Anyway, they were very nice.  I felt very underdressed and under’done’ having been rained on, after walking all day, still in walking boots and jeans.  Next time we go I will make more effort.

Angus has been unwell, with a cold -he missed the last day (Friday) of his sports program at UBC because of it, and an associated threatening ear infection.  But he seemed much better yesterday.  Today’s he’s very congested again though.  I’m planning a trip to Stanley Park and the Aquarium, which are both close by.  If he’s not up to it we’ll just have a quick walk down to the beach and a park, and save the other trip for tomorrow.