29 August Wild Pacific Trail and more

Monday 29 August

The forecast was not great for our stay so we made a prompt start and headed for the Wild Pacific Trail, Amphritite Lighthouse circuit. It was grey but not raining. However, the weather conditions provide a certain ‘wild’ aura compared to sunny weather. It is easy to envisage what this coastline is like in really ‘wild’ weather. Gorgeous sunsets aside, we were quite content with our experience of this beautiful part of the world.

There are many islands in the bay near Bamfield which makes for very dangerous navigation

The trees say it all

Two offshore buoys let boats know of the dangers of the coast. We could even hear the bell from one and horn from another back at our B&B

The rain left a magical aura in the trees and plants

Amphitrite Lighthouse

After our walk we had a short break for coffee in the town. Coffee shops abound and were all busy. The majority of accommodation is displaying ‘no vacancy’ so it is no wonder. After coffee and a walk to the waterfront which I would not recommend – not attractive at all – it’s really only a fishing boat harbour, we drove back up the highway towards Tofino. We had plans to check out the beaches which we still had to discover.

There are some waterfront apartments near the harbour which are accessible from a different road to the ones we used to and from the harbour

This was easier said than done. The ‘good’ beaches have fancy resort hotels commanding the waterfront and although there were areas of ‘beach access’ it was pretty obvious that you were not welcome. We did find some places to park with a walk – some short, some longer – to get to the beach. I still think we are blasé about our beaches in Australia. I’m sure these beaches are terrific on a warm summer day, but to us they were really rather ordinary. Neil had told us about the beaches known for their surf – the one redeeming feature!

Absolute beachfront. Not somewhere we could afford

Certainly on any given day it's easy to see why it's good for surfing

It was obvious the weather was coming in even worse and the showers were becoming serious rain, so we headed back to our B&B for a well earned rest.

No let up in the rain but we had to eat so we headed into town (having previously decided where we would like to eat from our wander earlier in the day). We are lucky we eat early! There was not only a 20 minute wait to be seated, we heard that this escalates after 7.30pm. Twenty minutes passed very quickly and it was worth the wait. Super food and excellent service.

We shall have to wait and see what tomorrow brings. Forecast is not promising.