15 Aug Walking Group

Linda arrived at Britannia Centre with a new walking companion, Emily, a petite lady who swears she is a senior but looks only 20. On today's walk, she told us she had recently completed the Grouse Grind!! Susan came in soon after, followed by Marilyn and Ken carrying their usual take-out coffees.
We walked to Broadway, caught the #9 bus to Granville, headed downhill to the path leading off to the left along the south shore of False Creek. The path wound around the shoreline between a boat-filled marina on our right and lovely condos surrounded by even lovelier gardens on our left. We followed a short detour along a brick-lined sidewalk, then sidestepped onto a plaza where a stairway led down to Vanier Park walkway. We passed a 15 foot carved wood statue of a Salish figure facing the inlet with arms outstretched in welcome greeting.
Filling Vanier Park were the striking white tents of Bard on the Beach summer theatre. Beyond the tents we passed the Science Centre and Maritime Museum. While the others rested on a bench, Emily and I took a stone pathway to a large rectangular copper coloured frame, about 10 feet square, settled on a mound of grass and surrounded by small shrubs. A plaque at the base dedicated this monument to Captain George Vancouver whose illustrious life lasted only forty years (1758-1798) - perhaps an average lifetime 200 years ago. As an officer in the Royal Navy, he was commissioned to claim the northwest coast as British territory and to find the northwest passage. Between 1792 and 1794 he charted the coastline north of the 30Th parallel as well as the perimeter of Vancouver Island. This monument was a gift of the Canadian Historic Sites & Monuments Board.
Our walk continued south to West 4Th Avenue where a street festival was in full swing; it was primarily a collector car display and, as we were running out of time and energy, we caught buses back to Britannia. I gave Emily a number of pamphlets of various city walks and maps to give her an idea of how much territory we have charted for our walking group.
Next Saturday is the bus trip to Harrison Hot Springs. Several of our group are going on this outing, so I encouraged the members who would be here that day to organize a walk. Our regular walks will continue August 29Th. Into the Fall, we plan to do a couple of walks at Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake Park.
Contributor Virginia