May 21 – Downtown Nanaimo

It was a mostly cloudy morning but since it is the long weekend I thought we would head downtown and walk along the waterfront when there might be more people around. It was actually pretty empty but it was a nice walk.

We did most of the Harbourfront Walkway. We parked in the middle at Maffeo Sutton Park. First we walked north next to all the marinas and then south to downtown with a loop into town before heading back to the car. In total we did about 6 km.

I forgot to turn off the GPS Tracking App so it also logged us as we drove away.

A colourful eagle.

Lots of bushes to check out next to the walkway.

A rock cairn with a tire on top shows how high the tide can get. We were here at very close to low tide.

I love the wooden ones, Small …

And big.

I guess this guy was too big for a covered berth. I have never seen such a large tarp.

We  turned round at this small garden dedicated to Chinese workers.

Heading towards downtown we saw this statue of what we thought was a historical figure.

But then you look at the date he died (1992). He is the guy that organized and ran the famous Nanaimo Bathtub Races.

They have a section of artificial tide pools. I didn’t see anything interesting in them though.

Caught!

An interesting condo dominated the skyline.

There were a few shops and restaurants along the walkway and piers. We probably should have had lunch at this place as it was the most unique one we passed all day.

In our loop through town, they had closed a small section of a street for some food trucks and kids rides.

Rainbow ice.

There was a face painting booth that did some amazing creations but these days I feel awkward about taking pictures of other peoples kids. I should have just asked the parents.

We passed by this place called Pirate Chips that made gourmet french fries.

They also made a deep fried Nanaimo Bar. The visitor’s center has a brochure of a tour all the places in town that you can get different bars. We will have to try some but there were almost 20 places on the tour. That many would kill you.

 

Heading back to the car.

The fishing pier, open to the public, with the mountains on the coast in the background.

One of the brochures recommended a drive to park where there was a short climb to a viewpoint. It was still early so off we went.

Sugarloaf Mountain Park is really just a small knob of bare rock in a residential neighbourhood but the view was quite good.

The ferry from Vancouver was coming in.

This is looking south towards downtown, over all the marinas that we had walked by.

And since it has been a few posts since we had one.

Sugarloaf Mountain Photosphere

Nanaimo is quiet hilly and most of them are covered in homes that want a view of the ocean.

Everybody that does have a view has a giant deck (or two), usually quite high up on the house.

Looking back down at the car, in the circle. It really was a short climb.

And then home.

I wandered over to the beach at Westwood Lake, which is only about 100 yards from our RV, just on the other side of the “housing development”.

Some people were in the water. I didn’t get beyond my ankles.

The lake itself is artificial. It was created by a dam. There is a 6 km trail that loops around the shore but it doesn’t look that interesting so we will probably skip it.