Saturday April 26th ….Day 21!!!!

Well the best sleep so far till 7.15 and then Heather made me tea and I relaxed in bed watching my Brother’s soccer team on TV.

Some history here….. in March Carolyn and I played tennis with Canadian friends of hers Erica and Colin and we played about 5 times together and had really good games even though we never won a set….Erica and Colin live on Salt Spring Island

and I offered to bring some pottery back here for them so this morning I had arranged to go to the Island and give them their stuff and have a visit and Heather came with me.  It is a 45 minute drive to the ferry terminal

and a 20 minute crossing

looking back at the Mill

and ahead at the Island.

We easily found Erica and Colin’s gorgeous home…

It was a lovely visit and Erica made a lovely snack of English scones with real Devonshire cream…tennis is a big part of their lives and they have their own court on their property

perhaps if we had played them here we may have won a set…because the net is not up yet!!!!!!

Heather  and I wanted to go on a hike so they drove us to the start of a hike they recommended but before we did this we went into town where they have a famous Saturday morning market and walked around!!

We then drove towards to the start of the hike but on the way passed this field which holds a special memory for me!!!

It was the May long weekend three years ago and it was my birthday and I had come over to the Island in Ramona and stayed three days reffing soccer tournaments and I had a game on this field the last game of the tournament and this is where I decided after all those years of being involved in the game it was time for me to retire and I wanted to go out on my terms without injury so as I blew the final whistle for the end of the game I knew it would be my last of over 1000 games!!!!  Little did I know I would come out of retirement the last couple of days!!!

So back to the hike this is the one we did..

Mount Erskine Provincial Park

About This Park

Located on Salt Spring Island in the South Gulf Islands off the east coast of Vancouver Island the park contains a variety of features including the summit of Mount Erskine, coastal Douglas-fir forests, moss covered rocky outcrops and bluffs, dry southwest facing Garry oak ecosystems and riparian wetlands. In addition, the park preserves an excellent example of the red-listed arbutus/hairy manzanita plant community as well as other species and habitats at risk.

It is recommended hikers access Mount Erskine Provincial Park via the Mount Erskine Upper Access Park Reserve owned by the Capital Regional District (CRD). This access is located in the Rainbow Grove Subdivision at the end of Trustees Trail. From this point Dodds Trail enters the park and provides linkage to the rest of the Mount Erskine trail system. 
** Note:  There is no provision for vehicle parking at this access.
Hikers using these trails pass through mature Douglas-fir forests to a rocky summit where they are rewarded with wonderful views of Booth Bay and Sansum Narrows. At the summit, visitors can view Vancouver Island, north towards Mount Arrowsmith, Chemainus and Nanaimo and east across Trincomali Channel to Galiano Island and the Lower Mainland.

It was a tough climb going up hill right away and kept on that way

That is the ferry we came across on…

There were a couple of fairy doors on the way up!!

They are just small doors built into the rock for the fairies to come in and out of!!

It was a tough climb we went from 0 to 1500 feet but the views were reward enough!!!

After all that climbing some of us needed a

It was certainly a great work out and a wonderful hike.

We got back to the ferry terminal  to go back to the other side and Heather met one of her friends and chatted with her on the ferry.

As we arrived home the weather changed and the rain started and after supper for a change I watched a hockey game!!!

As I used to live in Bermuda I enjoyed this article I hope you do too!!!!

Glasgow 2014: The Bermuda boycott of 1986 that still hurts

By Graham Fraser BBC Scotland

The 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh are sadly remembered for the wrong reasons.

While there was Scottish 10,000m gold for Liz Lynch, now Liz McColgan, the Games came at a heavy financial cost due to the boycott by 32 out of the 59 competing nations.

Teams withdrew after being angered by the British government's attitude to apartheid-era South Africa.

One of the nations that pulled out was Bermuda.

As Scotland prepares to host the Games once more, memories of the Edinburgh Games were brought back this week when the Queen's Baton Relay - the main curtain raiser for the Games - passed through the North Atlantic island.

For Bermudan swimmer Victor Ruberry and 100m runner Bill Trott, 1986 was a farce.

It is an episode of their lives which still causes frustration.

The Bermudan team at the 1986 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony

Before the Games, Ruberry and Trott were gravely concerned like thousands of others about apartheid in South Africa. They remember discussions on the island about boycotting, but no decision was made and the athletes made their way to Scotland.

They just wanted to compete. However, the Bermuda Olympic Association (BOA) - the governing body of the team - was still considering what to do.

When the athletes arrived in Edinburgh, there were reports of safety concerns for the Bermudans. According to team manager John Morbey, this was one of the reasons given behind the team's eventual withdrawal.

"The night before the opening ceremony, a teammate and I caught a taxi and we went to a disco," recalls Trott, who was looking forward to his first Commonwealth Games having competed in the 1984 Olympics.

"There was no-one supervising us, and that is how safe we felt. As we came back late at night, we bumped into John Morbey and he had just found out that the Bermuda Olympic Association had pulled us out.

"That is when all the drama started. I was deflated."

Trott and Ruberry woke up on 24 July, the day of the opening ceremony, with no idea what was going on.

 

Liz Lynch, now Liz McColgan, was the highlight of the Games for Scottish fans with victory in the 10,000m

After a day of discussions, Trott remembers a call was eventually made to Bermuda's leader John Swan while the opening ceremony was taking place on television screens behind them.

Swan offered his support, and Trott and his teammates frantically got dressed into their Panama hats, blue blazers and beige shorts and rushed to Meadowbank Stadium to take part.

Having missed their slot, they marched on just before the host nation and received one of the biggest cheers of the night, with Scottish fans - facing a Commonwealth Games without half the Commonwealth - showing their delight.

Ruberry, meanwhile, missed the ceremony as he prepared to take part in his 100m breaststroke the following day.

He remembers Morbey coming into his room around midnight to confirm he would be swimming in the morning. By the time he had reached the pool, Ruberry knew it was all in vain.

The BOA had finally decided to remove the team from the Games.

Ruberry was disqualified for keeping his head under water at the end of his race.

He said: "Your mental state was not one where you were focused on competition.

"It was an abysmal swim. It was nowhere near what I was prepped to do prior to that. I am not making excuses, I just did not feel ready. At one point we were packing our bags, the next moment we were unpacking our bags."

After the team's withdrawal, Morbey went on television in disgust over the BOA's decision while the athletes hung their bed sheets out the window with 'Bermuda wants to stay, don't penalise our athletes' written on one.

When the Bermudans returned home, Trott remembered an island sympathetic towards the athletes but behind the decision to boycott.

Twenty-eight years later, the athletes still reflect on what the 1986 boycott meant for them.

Trott said: "It was unfortunate that we were put in a situation like that. What I learnt from all of that was politics can play a role in some cases that it shouldn't."

For Ruberry, the Edinburgh Games were the second time his dreams had been shattered by a political boycott after missing out on the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

He gave up swimming, believing the countless hours of training were not worth it when it could all be scuppered by a boycott.

He returned to the pool for the 1988 Olympics, and now works as a swimming coach on the island.

He said: "Any sporting event brings people together. Boycotts serve to divide.

"They are a huge disappointment for the athletes who have been training so hard for something like that, and all of a sudden you take away the goalposts.

"I still to this day don't believe there is a place for boycotts in sport. There is so much more that can be accomplished by the positives - the healthy competition, people coming together.

"If you are going to do something political, then don't use the athletes as pawns."

 

I would like to say Happy birthday Sara!!!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!