Stanley Park is the gleaming jewel in Vancouver cities crown and the number one place to visit in the city where outdoor activity reigns supreme. Rosie and The Operator are gong to cycle the 12km bike path and walkway that winds around the edge of Stanley Park following the seawall. After having walked around yesterday on a mission to Explore Vancouver City Rosie is revved up and ready for her challenge today, what a great looking pathway it seems to glide along on a rented bike for an early morning constitutional.
It was a crisp, cool morning Rosie and The Operator were guaranteed to be up early as their apartment’s curtains made sure for early rising and the heat in the apartment turned to suffocation level when the sun rose…we were out of there and to be sure, this city is made for biking! The cycle lanes are wide and lace the whole city center.
We started down in False Creek on the waterfront and wound our way up to Stanley Park, the noise of the traffic of the inner city started to melt away and gazing out over the harbor was so peaceful and beautiful. The early light was just blue shades of shadows upon blue as we left the bustle behind and it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and we had only been biking for five minutes!
Along the sandy shoreline groups of walkers were on the dedicated walking tracks while we had our own cycle track across a strip of grass…no confusion here on who has right of way…except when an occasional tourist cycled off piste.
A local Vancouver family donated this huge artwork to the city, kind of like an ode to joy…just smile and be happy when you are interacting with it was their only instructions to those that came and viewed it. How could you not be!
Riding along the foreshore there were small pockets of grassy areas looking out over the harbor towards the distant tree clad mountains. Yoga groups were out in the open doing a class for the day. Small gatherings and folks on their own were also tucked away among the trees in a clearing overlooking the water practicing Tai Chi or with personal trainers in this beautiful outdoor cathedral.
At this point the cycle/walking trail enters Stanley Park proper and the roadway becomes one way. Everyone must move around the perimeter of the park anti clockwise…so we are all going the same way! Genius! You only had to watch out for the super speedy cyclists coming from behind…and lets face it, they can see you, so if you keep right Rosie there is plenty of space for them to pass on the left. Plus, this is Canada after all, everyone politely rings their bell upon passing and thanks the person they have just passed.
The Coal Harbour marina was full of boats and spiky masts with the water reflecting the same color as the sky and mirroring the grey downtown buildings.
It was beautiful and so quiet…did Rosie say quiet…not quite quiet…the Canadian Geese were actually quite rowdy with their early morning honking….and they are big, and kind of challenging….believe me it is best to observe the sign.
The Totem Pole Park was a stop off to stretch Rosie’s legs. These poles are unique to the west coast of British Columbia and Lower Alaska. They are carved from huge straight Western Red Cedar trees with each carving telling of a real or mythical event. Contrary to popular belief the totem poles are not idols and were never worshiped.
Each pole tells a story through its carvings and certain carved images represent different meanings. The eagle represents the kingdom of the air. The whale, the lordship of the sea. The wolf, the genius of the land, and the frog…the transitional link between land and sea. Now Rosie didn’t say they were easy to understand but they sure looked good in their forested backdrop as they gazed out to sea.
Stanley Park features one of the worlds premiere urban forests, and much of the 400 hectares of public park is still as densely forested to day as it was back when the first settlers came. There are nearly half a million trees in this park with some reaching the towering heights of 76 meters.
The park has 24 kilometers of internal walking tracks with the tracks actually being the original logging trails or skid roads from when some of the park was logged in the late 1800s. Stumps still bare the tell tale notches of those early lumber jacks.
A hurricane force windstorm swept through Vancouver in 2006 and felled nearly 10,000 trees in the park and damaged the sea wall. The seawall repair work is still being completed but it certainly did not detract from this beautiful cycle way we were following.
The white and red squat, blocky body of Brockton Point Lighthouse sits on the spit lighting the way into Coal Harbor since 1890.
Further along the controversial life sized ‘Girl in a Wetsuit’ sits on a rock longingly looking out to sea from the harbor. During the urban renewal of the park the artist who made this bronze statue asked Copenhagen if he could make a copy of their famous statue The Little Mermaid. Copenhagen said NO. Not deterred the artist made a modern version of the famous statue and there she has been sitting sine 1972.
The funny thing…no one would ever go scuba diving in Vancouver Harbor which is Canada’s fourth busiest port…you would get conked on the head with a propeller. She does however look very beautiful and whimsical perched out there on her rock!
The trail winds on and is just stunning! You can see in the pictures that there is an elevated road for the cyclists and a wider flatter road for the walkers. Everyone has their space and everyone greats the other as we pass on the trail…it is still pretty early and quiet out.
At the end of the road way in this picture there is a tall rock, a small plaque is embedded in the footpath that not many people notice and acknowledge. The rock stands in the water and is called Siwash Rock. In the 1960s a 17 year old boy dove from the top not realizing the tide was out…he hit the bottom and died. The plaque was placed there to commemorate his life and as a warning to others by his mates. The tide was out when we stopped there…
From Siwash Rock we are on the home stretch! A beautiful sandy beach comes into view with giant logs stretching across it that can be used as seating. The sand is golden and the sea is blue…and freezing cold as per the exclamations by two crazies who have gone out for a dip.
Volunteers from the local Stanley Park Brewery that is nearby are walking along the beach picking up litter and tide leavings…there is not much to do as most Canadians are very respectful and would not drop litter. Rosie could imagine this beautiful beach seemingly in the middle of nowhere, yet right on the edge of the city, being chocka block with picnicking families in the summer and what a great way to spend the day!
We started our ride at 0800am and had finished in time for the said Stanley Park Brew Bar to have opened for lunch, so, on the patio we relaxed overlooking the country clubs tennis courts and had an early, well earned brew and a delicious lunch.
Let Rosie and The Operator introduce you to The Two Parrots, which was a bar and grill just down the road from where we were staying and was a place where we ended up finishing our day every night whilst in Vancouver for a quiet brew and sometimes a basket of wings before going home.
Oh boy, we had an unintended huge session there on our last night….it was a night to rival the infamous Night of The Mini Gins. We met some great friendly people at the bar and Rosie is sure Ryan, the heartbroken concierge at The Four Seasons who got dumped by his boyfriend the day before never made it into work the next day.
John who sold mining machinery all over the world in totally weird remote locations, left at a reasonable hour as he needed to get home to his Westie as he had a business meeting the next day, lucky for him. Scottie sat on the periphery, hunched over his sleeve of chewy dark beer, interjecting when the mood and the conversation took his fancy, launching once into apparent fluent German when the conversation rolled that way.
Lets just say they had Tequila on tap…on tap! Rounds were being bought for each other and the pineapple cider and tequila seemed to be going down quite well. As we left the bar, we couldn’t find Nick to say good bye too. This wee red neck lad was from Kentucky, he didn’t even look old enough to drink but sported to his credit a credible wispy mustache. All night he loudly and somewhat angrily commiserated his bad luck in life but was interesting, and young enough for everyone to be giving advice too….bizarrely, as we walked through the door to go home there he was, outside the bar, laying face down on the ground being handcuffed by the police.…oh yes, it was one of those nights.
The next day…looking like two lifeless zombies Rosie and The Operator lumbered to a taxi to go to the airport to catch a flight to Ketchikan in Alaska. Rosie clutched her plastic bag even though there was nothing left in her belly to bring up anymore and The Operator snoozed behind his sunglasses. It seemed a long trip via Seattle…lucky it was a day where we could chill and recuperate.
It was most certainly not Rosie and The Operators finest hour…and something we never normally do on holiday…but hell, Vancouver, we had a blast!
