Highway 14: Victoria To Port Renfrew
Highway 14 runs west from Victoria to Port Renfrew and is lined with numerous beaches and provincial parks, most - especially those close to the city - heavily populated during the summer months. The 107km route is covered in summer by West Coast Trail Express , a private bus service intended for hikers walking the West Coast Trail and Juan de Fuca Trail , but also popular for the ride alone. Victoria city buses go as far as SOOKE (38km; take #50 to Western Exchange and transfer to a #61), best known for its All Sooke Day in mid-July, when lumberjacks from all over the island compete in various tests of forestry expertise. The infocentre lies across the Sooke River Bridge at 2070 Phillips and Sooke streets (daily 10am-6pm; tel 642-6351, www.sookemuseum.bc.ca ). This is the last place of any size, so stock up on supplies if you're continuing west. It also has a surfeit of accommodation , with a bias towards B&B, if you're caught short. Check out the small Sooke Region Museum , (daily: July-Aug 9am-6pm; Sept-June 9am-5pm; donation) in the same place if you want to bone up on the largely logging-dominated local history. Quite a few people make the trip here just for the food at Sooke Harbour House , 1528 Whiffen Spit (tel 642-3421; $240 and up), one of the finest restaurants on the West Coast; it's expensive, but has a surprisingly casual atmosphere. It also has a few top-notch rooms , but prices range from a prohibitive $270 to $465. Beaches beyond Sooke are largely grey pebble and driftwood, the first key stop being French Beach Provincial Park , 20km onwards from Sooke. An info-board here fills in the natural-history background, and there are maps of trails and the highlights on the road further west. There's good walking on the fairly wild and windswept beach, and a provincial park campsite (summer $12, winter $8) on the grass immediately away from the shore. Sandy, signposted trails lead off the road to beaches over the next 12km to Jordan River , a one-shop, one-hamburger-stall town known for its good surf. Just beyond is the best of the beaches on this coast, part of China Beach Provincial Park (no camping) reached after a fifteen-minute walk from the road through rainforest. The West Coast Trail Express shuttle bus makes stops at all these parks and beaches on request. The road is gravel from here on - past Mystic and Sombrio beaches to PORT RENFREW , a logging community that's gained from being the western starting point of the West Coast Trail . A second trail, the Juan de Fuca Trail , also starts from Port Renfrew, running east towards Victoria for about 50km. This does not have the complicated booking procedure of the West Coast Trail, but the scenery is also less striking and the going far easier for the less experienced or more safety conscious walker. Car parks and highway access points are also dotted along its length, allowing you to enjoy strolls or day-hikes. Accommodation in town is still pretty limited: try the four cottages at Gallaugher's West Coast Fish Camp off Beach Road (tel 647-5535; $80-100; May-Oct); the five beachfront rooms of the Arbutus Beach Lodge , 5 Queesto Drive (tel 647-5458, arbutus@sookenet.com ; $60-80/$80-100); the West Coast Trail Motel , Parkinson Road (tel 647-5565, www.westcoasttrailmotel.com ; $60-80/$80-100); and the Trailhead Resort on Parkinson Road (tel 647-5468, www.trailhead-resort.com ; $60-80), which has four rooms and nine tent pitches ($4 per person); and the 124-site Port Renfrew RV Park and Marina on Gordon River Road (tel 647-5430; $12-14; April-Oct), with a separate tenting area across the bridge on the northern side of the village. South of the village on a logging road (6km) is Botanical Beach , a sandstone shelf and tidal-pool area that reveals a wealth of marine life at low tide. If you're driving and don't want to retrace your steps, think about taking the gravel logging roads from the village on the north side of the San Juan River to either Shawnigan Lake or the Cowichan Valley. They're marked on most maps, but it's worth picking up the detailed map of local roads put out by the Sooke Combined Fire Organization (ask at the Victoria infocentre); heed all warnings about logging trucks
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