We took a few days vacation the week before last and we rented a nice cabin just outside of Ucluelet, right in the middle of the Long Beach Unit of Pacific Rim National Park on the mid-west coast of Vancouver Island. There were no winter storms, but we really enjoyed donning our wet-weather gear and walking along the windswept beaches in the rain. There were so many surfers out on Chesterman Beach - we sat and watched them do their thing for a good two hours.

Afterwards we played like kids, running in and out of the surf, me daring Monkey to follow in my foot prints with the aim of timing it just right to keep my feet dry while getting his as wet as possible. Knowing that we were just 20 minutes from our cottage with its own private hot tub meant that we didn’t care how wet and cold we got!

We capitalised on our one day of sun by hiking down the Willowbrae trail to Halfmoon Bay in the morning (a pretty and secluded beach reached by lots of boardwalks and stairs and, in the wet weather, some areas rather boggy underfoot), and along the Wild Pacific Trail by the lighthouse in Ucluelet in the afternoon. That afternoon I spent an hour sitting on a bench overlooking a particularly scenic view while Monkey took photographs - the sun’s rays had formed a solar flare and it was just gorgeous to spend time looking out at it.

 It was a really nice, relaxing few days in a very special part of the world and I felt incredibly happy and refreshed by the time we left. By the way, if you ever want to eat in Tofino, the brunch at the Schooner Restaurant on Campbell @ Second is fantastic - probably the best French toast I’ve ever eaten and a really good budget-friendly dish called The Beach Bum which consisted of lots of spicy rice, beans and veggies for just 5 bucks.