Salt Spring is always great

Thanks to Michael for taking over as driver for this trip and for doing such a great job.

Here we are poised to get onto the ferry!

SInce we couldn't get a wine tasting, we decided to go for cheese instead and had a fantastic visit to the Salt Spring Island Cheese on our way up island. This turned out to be our best tasting visit yet.

On arrival, we were greeted by the owner and given a very interesting tour of the farm.

As we found out, there's quite a lot to making cheese.

The farm had some great opportunities for photography....

and some adorable livestock.  Salt Spring Island Cheese import goat and sheep milk from local suppliers and concentrate on the cheese making rather than dairy farming, so these guys are more decorative than productive.

They do sell eggs from some good looking and well cared-for hens.

The tasting and tour was free.  We got to cut our own pieces of cheese to taste on crackers, and there was a wide variety to try from absolutely fresh feta to some well cured hard cheeses.  The camembert type was especially good. The owner packed our purchases in a box with ice to keep them fresh. We will definitely be visiting Salt Spring Island Cheese again!

Ganges was beautiful as usual and a great place to browse and have lunch, and, of course, we called in to Russell Farms on the way back to the centre.

Chemainus is pretty neat

Our trip to Chemainus allowed us to spend more time browsing than we normally do when visiting to see a show.  There's quite a lot to see! First the basics you see from getting off the bus!

Next the rather lonely looking musician, who played all the time we were there.

I had never had time to venture into the old town to the beach. This trip rectified that omission.

Of course the murals and statuary are worth seeing.

The Wednesday Market was in full swing.

The obliging coffee shop owner made me an Africano coffee from my own recipe - it was good.

 Someone seemed to have left lots of driftwood around, but the German and Korean tourists were thoroughly enjoying the view.

Of course we stopped in to Russels farm store on the way back to the centre, and we all decided to do this trip again next year.