We embarked on a full day drive (180 miles) along the Pacific Marine Circle Route. This scenic drive took us north through the Cowichan Valley, inland to Lake Cowichan, through dense evergreen forests to Port Renfrew, and then home along the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
We stopped at Lake Cowichan and saw a number of people preparing for a day of tubing along the creek. It seems to be a popular activity, as there were commercial vans to shuttle people back to the starting point with their tubes.
The drive from Lake Cowichan to Port Renfrew is very remote. There are no signs of human activity except for clear-cut logging in places. We stopped and walked around in a dense forest that contains some of the oldest and largest trees on Vancouver Island.
By lunchtime we were in Port Renfrew so we stopped at the Renfrew Pub. We had a waterside table on their deck, which was great on a warm day.
The drive back to Victoria was a bit of a disappointment. On the map the route appears to go right along the coast, so we were expecting lots of ocean views and views across the strait to the snow-covered Olympic Mountains in Washington. But in fact the forest is so dense that it obscures the ocean most of the way.
