Cowichan River where the tubers start out their leisurely, beery, sun burnt slow float downriver. Here at the start of the looong drift, the guys still carry their six packs in plastic bags resting on their stomachs. Each emptied beer can its set afloat to slowly sink into the clear water. Local residents in inflatable boats try to keep the river clean, and snorkel in the wake of the revellers, gathering the empty cans as soon as they are tossed. The girls, instead of hiding their bare bellies under plastic bags full of beer cans, attach their refreshment supplies to the outsides of their floatation devices - that way the river water keeps the beer cold.
I understand that local police join the fun, sporting their police edition bathing suits, patrolling the river suspended within their own inflatable tubes to keep an eye on any 'excessive revelling', potential injurious shipwrecks, or shore side vandalism.
Other officers - dressed in regulation uniform - watch the 'exit beaches', where a whole bunch of less than sober youth piles into oversize Dodge Trucks or rickety old Toyotas, tubes and all, and aim for the highway.
Whole rafts of tubes make their way down the crystal clear river....
On land: Show and Shine motor bike gathering in 'down town' Lake Cowichan. Never mind putting a tiger in your tank, why not put Betty Boop on the tank.
Across the street the Cow Cafe, which has made it to the top ranks of local restaurants thanks to the super fresh, and super local fare it serves. And most of all thanks to the skills of a couple of good local cooks.
Just a few steps away, water lilies dot the shores of Lake Cowichan.
Cowichan means 'warmland' in the language of the Cowichan First Nations tribe. And warm it is, the warmest average temperatures in Canada. And the Lake is pleasantly sun warmed as well.
Many small parks give access to the Lake.
And then there is 'Saison' on May's Road north of Duncan, the latest addition to our selection of culinary destinations. A small vineyard (they are not making their own wine, but selling the grapes) owned by a French Canadian baker. Surrounded by vines, orchards, beautiful views of Mount Prevost and Mount Sicker one can sit on a spacious shady veranda and sip an aromatic cup of freshly brewed coffee, and nibble a raspberry or rhubarb coffee cake, or indulge in a almond and cream laden 'Bienenstich' - traces of Alsace Lorraine...The scent of freshly baked bread competes with whiffs of freshly cut hay. Bucolic indeed...
Everything is prepared with REAL butter and REAL cream, and it is sinfully delicious...The little place only opens on Saturdays and Sundays, but the local population seems to have caught on, as there is a constant stream of guests. Trying to garner a shady table on the veranda is a true stroke of luck.
And if indulging right here is not enough, quiches, breads, buns, cakes, tartes etc etc are there to be bought and enjoyed back home.
Yummy! And an absolutely delightful location.
